Mirror for the Sun
by LongHardRoadOuttaHell
Summary: Going into senior year, Gabriella & Troy each had many plans for summer. The two hadn't seen each other since they were kids, & spending an entire summer traveling through a foreign country for a family vacation in a RV was not on the top of their lists.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Okay, so here we are with my new story! I'm going to do my very, very best to update this weekly, but occasionally real life will get in the way of that. I hope this story is original, and enjoyable, so leave me a review telling me what you thought about it. And anyone reading from NZ that might be able to help me out with the details of some of the locations that they're going to visit, PM me or find my details on my profile! I do not mean to offend any fellow Kiwi's with this story, I'm very much a proud Kiwi, I just like to poke fun at myself sometimes :)**

**This first chapter is for Corii, who has waited patiently for this to be uploaded, and given me help whenever I've needed it (which was alot)!  
**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical, or any of the characters you recognise. __I do not intend any sort of legal infringement with this work of fiction._**

"We're going _where_?" Gabriella Montez asked in disbelief, her dark chocolate eyes widening in surprise.

"New Zealand, dear," Gabriella's Mom, Maria answered, continuing to load the plates from dinner into the dishwasher. "Your father and Jack have decided it would be a good way for our families to get to know each other again since we've moved back here."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, her family had just moved back to Albuquerque, New Mexico from Seattle, Washington and her Dad was thrilled to be back in the same city as his college roommate and childhood best friend, Jack Bolton.

She had overheard her parents talking about spending the summer with the Boltons, but Gabriella had assumed they wouldn't be traveling far, but now it seemed they were going to spend their summer halfway across the world, in a country that would be in winter while they were there.

"Mama, you know that New Zealand will be in winter? Right? That means we skip out on our entire summer," Gabriella complained.

"I realise that, Gabi, but think of the experience of being in such a beautiful country," Maria encouraged.

"Where in New Zealand would we be going to?" Gabriella asked, racking her brains trying to think of any cities she might know in the small country.

"Well, we were planning on renting a motorhome and traveling the country…." Maria trailed off, knowing that Gabriella wouldn't like the idea.

"Mama! You expect me to live in a motorhome for a month? With 10 other people? In a strange country? Missing out on my summer vacation?" Gabriella exclaimed.

"Well, it would be closer to three months, Gabi. And the Bolton's would have their own motorhome, so it would only be our family, but we'd be traveling with Jack, Lucille and their kids," Maria tried to make the trip sound more fun to Gabriella. "It's going to be fun, Gabi."

"Fun? I don't think so, they talk with strange accents in New Zealand! We'll never be able to understand them!"

"They talk English like us, Gabi, stop being ridiculous," Maria scolded. "Now the Bolton's will be coming over tomorrow so we can put the finishing touches on this vacation, I expect you to at least act a little bit enthusiastic."

"How can you expect me to be enthusiastic? I'm meant to be spending my summer with people my own age, not my parents, their friends and a bunch of kids," Gabriella announced angrily.

"You're forgetting Troy, he's your age," Maria rationalized. "And you don't know anyone your own age, Gabriella, we've just moved here and you're not starting at East High until the fall."

Gabriella rolled her eyes yet again before storming out of the room, going up the stairs before passing her Dad as she started to enter her bedroom

"I take it your Mama told you the news, pumpkin?" Joseph asked his daughter who let out a dramatic groan at his statement before slamming her bedroom door shut, causing Joseph to laugh at her antics.

Inside her bedroom Gabriella fell backwards onto her bed, letting out another loud groan as her head hit the pillow. She racked her mind trying to bring up an image of Troy, she was 5 the last time she saw him and she finally remembered what he looked like, a lanky, caramel haired boy with a gap between his front teeth.

Gabriella rolled her eyes at the image. He was probably acne ridden and wearing braces by now, suddenly she wished summer would never come.

* * *

Troy had just shrugged his shoulders when his parents announced their plans for the summer, he wasn't going to argue, there was no way he could change his parents plan, he'd just brood silently and pretend to be indifferent about the whole idea.

His best friend Chad however, was already trying to convince Troy he could have a summer romance with the teenage girl Troy was to be traveling with, Gabriella.

"So what's this Gabriella chick like?" Chad asked with wink.

"I don't remember much about her," Troy admitted. "Except that she was this tiny Latino girl with wild curls."

"Wild?" Chad asked with a laugh. "She's just your type then."

"Dude, how do you figure that?" Troy asked.

"Troy Bolton loves a challenge," Chad teased.

"You're a jerk, remember that you're the player here, not me," Troy retorted. "Who knows how Sharpay managed to tame you."

Chad smiled at the mention of his girlfriend, ignoring the truths about his previous way with girls.

"Well maybe this Gabriella chick will finally get you to stop thinking girls have cooties, or whatever your problem is man," Chad slapped Troy on the shoulder in a friendly gesture.

"For the record I'm not going into this with assumptions that I'm going to even find Gabriella attractive, I haven't seen her for 12 years, my memories of her can't even remember anything besides those wild curls." Troy argued.

"Whatever dude, I'm just saying. The two of you are gunna be hanging out at beaches, she'll be all wet and in a bikini, the sun shining down…" Chad started.

"You're a moron, Chad. It'll be winter when we're there. If she's in a bikini in the ocean the only thing I'll be doing is taking her to the hospital so she can get treated for hypothermia," Troy rolled his eyes. "Aren't you meant to be meeting Sharpay?"

"Shit, she's gunna kill me if I'm late again, see ya, hoops," Chad quickly scrambled off Troy's bed, waving over his shoulder at his blue eyed best friend as he hurried out of the bedroom, leaving Troy to settle back on his bed and wonder what this trip was going to be like.

* * *

Later that night Gabriella had received a phone call from her best friend back in Washington, Taylor who was happily relaying facts about New Zealand to Gabriella.

"Women in New Zealand could vote in 1893, a quarter of a century before women here could vote!" Taylor exclaimed gleefully.

"Tay, that's uh… great," Gabriella finished lamely, not wanting to ruin her friend's buzz.

"I know! And their capital city, Wellington is the most southerly capital city on the planet," Taylor rattled on as Gabriella stretched out on her bed, closing her eyes.

"Wow, really?" Gabriella said with fake enthusiasm, wondering how her best friend could be so unsupportive about Gabriella being dragged across the world for her summer vacation.

"And! In New Zealand it's actually _undesirable_ to tip when you go to a restaurant! Can you believe that Gab?" Taylor cried out.

"Oh wow, that's quite crazy," Gabriella muttered.

"Are you tired?" Taylor asked, noticing her friend's lack of enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I'll talk to you later, I'm going to bed," Gabriella said, ending the call when she heard Taylor say her goodbyes, dropping her phone to her bed and covering her eyes with her arms.

_Why does it feel like everyone is excited for this trip but me? _Gabriella thought to herself, bitterly.

* * *

After Chad had left, Troy had switched on his television, just watching a basketball game that was on, but more thinking about the vacation.

Troy had two younger brothers, twin brothers Logan and Connor who were nine.

The twins were identical, and were always telling Troy that they weren't the twin that he thought they were, even though Troy was far past the point of actually being fooled by them changing their clothes and pretending to be each other. Logan and Connor were always getting into Troy's bedroom and moving things around, hiding other things from him, and "borrowing" even more things.

Troy often had to babysit his brothers, and without fail every time he was caring for the them, Logan and Connor would refuse to listen to him.

Their bad behaviour was only worsened by the fact that Troy's parents thought their youngest sons could do no wrong. Having been born premature, and spending the first few months of their life in hospital, the twins were very spoilt, and were never disciplined when they were misbehaving, leaving their behaviour to have only gotten worse with age.

As if on cue, Logan and Connor tore through Troy's bedroom door, shouting and screaming as they climbed onto Troy's bed and starting jumping up and down.

"Get out!" Troy cried, pointing to the door as he scrambled to a sitting position, trying to shoo his brothers out of his room. "Mom!"

Laughing loudly Logan and Connor streaked back out of the room, followed by the sound of Lucille walking towards Troy's bedroom.

"Troy, please be nice to your brothers," she scolded lightly, ignoring the groan of protest from her oldest son before she turned and shut his bedroom door, leaving Troy to silently dread the thought of living in such a small space with the twins.

* * *

"Gabriella, the Boltons will be here soon, can you go and check on Charlie and tell Will to come downstairs please?" Maria asked Gabriella who rolled her eyes and reluctantly got up from her place on the couch.

The mention of her younger sister made Gabriella's bad mood vanish slightly, the 15 month old girl, Charlotte, or Charlie as she was more commonly known as, had the ability to make anyone's bad mood disappear.

As Gabriella got to the top of the stairs she turned left, banging on her eight-year-old brother Will's door.

"Mom wants you downstairs, the Boltons are gunna be here soon," Gabriella called out, not wanting to venture into the preteen's bedroom, knowing that it would be mess as per usual.

"Okay," came the muffled reply from Will and Gabriella considered her job of telling him to come downstairs was complete.

Turning back the way she had come and going to the right of the stairs Gabriella quietly opened the door to her younger sister's bedroom, peeking inside and being greeted by the sight of her sister sitting happily in her bed, a toothy grin on her face.

"Gab!" The baby cried out gleefully.

"You're meant to be asleep, Charlie," Gabriella laughed as she entered the small room, scooping her sister into her arms.

"No," Charlie giggled back and Gabriella laughed alongside her.

"Come on, let's get you downstairs, Mom and Dad are about to ruin our summer, not that you'll care that we're on the other side of the world in a country that has more sheep than people," Gabriella shifted Charlie onto her hip, holding her carefully as she exited the room, hearing a doorbell ringing downstairs, making her sigh again.

"I'll get it!" Came the excited cry from Will. He was excited to be spending his summer with the Bolton's nine-year-old twin boys since all his friends were back in Washington.

Gabriella paused at the top of the stairs, watching as the Bolton's entered her house.

"Gabi, come down," Maria half ordered, hoping her eldest daughter wouldn't make this harder than it needed to be with her typical teenage stubbornness.

Gabriella descended the stairs, paying more attention to Charlie who was squirming in her arms than to where the mass of people were standing at the bottom of the stairs. As a result she walked straight into the side of the owner of the most breathtaking blue eyes Gabriella had seen in her life.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: A huge thanks to Corii for helping me write this chapter, and to Michaela for her friendly nagging about me needing to write ;). Also a huge thanks to my reviewers from last chapter, I'm glad everyone is liking the story already, I hope I can meet everyone's expectations for this story!**

The blue eyes flashed a lighter shade as they met with Gabriella's chocolate brown, but when a hand appeared on the boy's shoulder his eyes darkened, though they did not look away from Gabriella.

"And this is Troy," came the voice of Jack Bolton as he finished introducing his family.

"I remember Troy, he was only knee-high to a grasshopper last time I saw him though," Joseph teased and Gabriella rolled her eyes. "We've got Will over there, and then Gabriella who is holding Charlie."

Gabriella looked over towards Jack and Lucille Bolton, smiling at the couple who looked just a bit older than she remembered from when she was a small child. Gabriella nodded politely at the couple before she turned her attention back to the boy with the breathtaking blue orbs, looking far from the gangly Troy that Gabriella remembered.

"Let's go into the living room shall we?" Maria offered the adults. "The kids can play outside."

"Gabi, can you go out and supervise the boys for us? Maybe Troy will keep you company," Joseph said as a bid to get all the children out the house so they could finalize the plans without the teenagers' inputs.

"Sure," Gabriella replied half heartedly, breaking the gaze she had with Troy and turning to follow her brother and the twins out the door into the backyard.

The three boys quickly formed a friendship, starting up a game of soccer as Gabriella sat down on the grass in the shade, settling Charlie between her legs.

Troy followed suit, settling down on the grass next to her.

Troy and Gabriella were sneaking looks at the other, Gabriella's cheeks reddening more each time Troy caught her looking.

"Um, I'm just going to get a glass of water, do you want one?" Gabriella asked after ten minutes of shared glances.

"Uh yeah, sure," Troy stammered, feeling slightly nervous as Gabriella's musical voice drifted into his ears.

"So are you looking forward to this whole… thing?" Troy asked as Gabriella poured their drinks, handing Charlie a sippy cup before passing Troy one of the glasses.

"To be honest with you, not at all," Gabriella confessed. "What about you?"

"It's gunna suck," Troy replied with a smile. "I mean, New Zealand? What were our parents thinking? They drive on the wrong side of the road there!"

"I bet they call everything by a different name. I saw on the internet that they call cotton candy, 'candy floss'," Gabriella replied with disgust.

"Their gas is expensive," Troy pointed out matter of factly. "I heard my parents talking about it last night."

"They sucked in the Olympics," Gabriella giggled.

"They have Christmas in the _summer_," Troy scoffed.

"They're crazy," Gabriella giggled. Hearing a shout of protest coming from outside Gabriella scooped Charlie back up, deciding they needed to get outside before the boys started fighting.

Troy held the door open for Gabriella, flashing her a smile as she passed him to the backyard, a smile which was returned by Gabriella.

"Gabi!" Came Will's voice.

"Troy!" Came the combined voices of Logan and Connor.

"They won't tell me which one of them they are!" William complained.

"We're just playing," one of the twins replied.

"Logan, I don't care if you're just playing, you two wanna make an enemy before we even leave for this…. Vacation?" Troy scolded. "Will, Logan is wearing the red t-shirt and Connor is in the hoody, alright?"

Will nodded, glaring at the twins before stalking across the backyard, leaving Troy to groan once again at the thought of spending three months living in a tiny space with his brothers.

"I hope you know that I'm going to more than likely hide out in your motor home," Troy teased Gabriella, as he flopped back down on the grass next to her, feeling the shyness between them lift as the pair realized how similar they really were.

"It was your stupid idea," Logan snapped at Connor, pushing him slightly.

"Logan!" Troy warned, getting ready to stand up incase a fight broke out between his brothers.

"It was not. You were the stupid one," Connor retorted, pushing Logan back, harder than he had been pushed to start with.

Within seconds Troy was up and in between the two boys, keeping them at a distance from the other as they exchanged heated glares.

"You two want me to get Dad out here?" Troy scolded, embarrassed that his brothers were fighting in front of Gabriella. "_She must think we're totally dysfunctional,_" he thought as he snuck a glance over at the dark haired girl who was watching him curiously.

A smile pulled at the corners of Troy's mouth as he watched Gabriella spring up from her position to hurry over to Charlie who had fallen over and grazed her knee. The way Gabriella comforted the toddler made Troy almost wish that he was the one who she was paying the loving attention to.

"_I am not jealous of a toddler, that's just ridiculous,"_ Troy thought to himself as he watched Gabriella kiss her sister's forehead gently. _"Okay maybe I am."_

"Are you okay, Charlie?" Troy asked gently as he walked over to where Gabriella and Charlie were now sitting.

"Boo-boo," Charlie replied sadly, pointing to her knee.

"But Gabi kissed it all better, right?" Gabriella asked, knowing that her baby sister liked to milk her 'boo-boos' for all they were worth. "Why don't you go and get your dolly off the picnic table?"

Charlie was up off Gabriella's knee in a flash, hurrying over to where her doll had been placed earlier in the day.

"She's so cute," Troy observed as the pair watched Charlie cart around her doll happily, her grazed knee well forgotten.

"She is. But she can be a little terror too," Gabriella confessed. "You've got younger siblings, you know how that one goes."

"I don't think anyone has called the twins cute since they came home from hospital. Troy said with a grin. "At least nobody that had to live with them," he half joked.

"They seem like they're a… handful," Gabriella said tactfully, looking up to see Logan and Connor pushing each other yet again. "Troy."

At the sound of his name, Troy looked up at Gabriella, following her gaze to his younger brothers.

Troy groaned out loud as he again made his way over to his younger brothers, pulling them apart again.

"I swear if you two do one more thing out of line you'll be going inside," Troy scolded. "Apologise to each other, right now."

The twins muttered an apology to the other one, deciding that Troy meant business they decided not to push him anymore.

Still scowling at the 9 year olds Troy walked back across the yard to Gabriella, collapsing into the grass next to her.

Gabriella giggled at his behaviour, "So aren't we just excited to spend three months with our younger siblings?"

"You better like going for long, long walks in a foreign country, Brie," Troy replied with a smirk.

Gabriella's heart fluttered at the sound of the nickname slipping easily from Troy. "Brie?" She asked. "That's a new one."

"Oh, I uh, I'm sorry, I can call you Gabriella if you don't like it," Troy stammered, his cheeks flushing a bright red.

"I'm kidding Troy," Gabriella laughed softly. "I like it," she added bashfully.

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, glancing at the other every few seconds, their blushes deepening when they caught the other's eye.

"So tell me about East High," Gabriella said, breaking the silence. "Let me guess, you're the big shot football captain."

"I should take offence to that," Troy grinned.

"Math nerd?" Gabriella teased, and Troy shook his head. "Drama? Musician? Cheerleader?"

All of Gabriella's questions were met with a increasingly amused look from Troy as he shook his head in the negative.

"Basketball captain," Troy finally said. "Of the state champion team."

"Wildcat superstar, then," Gabriella said, her voice showing how impressed she was at his "label".

"I'm just a regular guy," Troy defended. "What about you, let me guess… cheerleader."

Gabriella burst into giggles, shaking her head. "Try math nerd."

"You look like a nerd," Troy teased, earning him a swat to his chest by Gabriella. "Actually I change my mind, you're that big burly bully that everyone is scared of."

Gabriella pouted at Troy, a mock hurt look settling upon her face. "You take that back… or I'll… I'll hit you," Gabriella flirted.

"Like I said, a bully," laughed Troy. "So math nerd, how are you at all the other subjects?"

"Okay maybe I'm not just a math nerd, but a bit of an all round nerd," Gabriella admitted sheepishly. "And are you the jock who struggles to read and write?"

"AP classes, actually," Troy boasted. "I take it we'll be sharing many classes come the new school year?"

"I think we will," Gabriella admitted in awe, Troy Bolton was definitely not what he looked.

The pair settled into a comfortable silence, watching their siblings running around the yard with enjoyment.

"How are those boys going to handle a motor home?" Gabriella wondered out loud.

"We're just gunna let them loose with the sheep," Troy laughed. "There's no way they'll sit still for long, it'll be the only way to come back home sane."

Just as Gabriella was about to answer she heard her Mom's voice float through the backyard.

"Kids can you come inside please?" Maria called out.

Groaning Troy got up, offering his hand out to Gabriella so he could help pull her up too. Gabriella took Troy's hand, feeling the sparks the shot through both of the teenagers bodies. Once Gabriella was standing, Troy didn't let go of her hand, leaving their fingers loosely laced as they walked across the backyard, following their younger siblings into the Montez house.

It wasn't until they reached the living room that Troy reluctantly let go of Gabriella's hand, instead his hand brushed against her lower back as he let her enter the room first.

Once the Bolton and Montez children were sitting in various spots around the living room, Jack started to talk, informing them all of the decisions they had made that afternoon, with the other parents occasionally adding a detail.

"We leave on the 1st of June," Jack started. "From here to LA, then on to a non-stop flight to New Zealand."

"Leaving here at 4.30 in the afternoon," Lucille added. "And leaving LA at ten minutes to midnight."

"When do we get to New Zealand?" Gabriella asked curiously, her eyes meeting with Troy's, suddenly the trip not seeming so bad if she got to spend time with the blue eyed boy that already made her heart flutter.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay so I'm on break from school so I'm going to try update a few times a week while I'm off, just to get the story rolling! Another huge thanks to Michaela for all of her reminders to stop distracting myself and just hurry up and write :). Keep those reviews coming everyone!!  
**

"Come on Gabriella, the shuttle is here to pick us up!" Joseph called up the stairs as he stood at the bottom, surrounded by the rest of the Montez family and their piles of luggage.

Gabriella wandered slowly down the stairs, her cell phone in hand as she text Troy and a backpack slung over one shoulder.

"Who are you talking to, dear?" Maria asked, and Gabriella shrugged her shoulders.

"Taylor," Gabriella lied with another shrug of her shoulders, but inside she wanted to smile so much.

Since the day they spent together while their parents were finalising the details, Troy and Gabriella had grown closer and closer through texting and the internet, and Gabriella was sure that she was crushing on the blue eyed boy. But under no circumstances did she want her parents to believe that she was starting to look forward to the trip, so she hadn't told them about her new found friendship.

"Got everything, Gabi?" Joseph asked. "Because we can't exactly just pop home if you decide you've forgotten something."

"Got everything, Dad," Gabriella said quietly, her eyes fixed to the cell phone screen.

"I've got everything!" Will chimed in happily, practically bouncing around the small space. "Let's go!"

"Gabi, can you carry Charlie for me please?" Maria asked, handing the sleeping toddler off to Gabriella. "I'll help your Dad with the luggage."

Gabriella took her little sister, arranging her comfortably in the hold of her arms as she followed her parents and brother out of the house.

It didn't take long to load the luggage and the Montez family into the shuttle, and they were on their way to the airport.

Gabriella blocked out the sound of her family with her iPod, putting on her true sulking teenager front, but letting a small smile leak out every time her phone vibrated with another text from Troy.

_We just arrived how far r u?_

Gabriella looked out the window to see if she could recognise anything that would give an indication as to their location from the airport and saw that they had actually reached the airport as well.

_Just arrived too. Let the "fun" begin._

Gabriella quickly typed out her message before slipping her phone into her pocket and turning her iPod volume downso that she could hear the requests from her parents as to what they wanted her to carry.

"Do you want to look after Charlie, or carry luggage?" Maria asked her daughter and Gabriella replied without hesitation.

"Charlie!" She said quickly, scooping the toddler into her arms and placing a gentle kiss upon the dark curls that were so much like her own.

"What's that?" Charlie cooed, pointing up to the sky where a plane had just taken off.

"That's a plane," Gabriella replied softly, settling Charlie onto her hip. "We're going on one pretty soon."

"We're going on a plane, we're going on a plane," Will sung, running in a circle around Gabriella, making Charlie giggle and Gabriella wonder how he was going to cope being cooped up in a small motor home for three months.

--

Troy couldn't believe it, he already had a splitting headache, and they hadn't even left Albuquerque. His brothers had been screaming through the house all day, singing about their upcoming trip, yelling out that they didn't know what to pack in their suitcases, and asking Troy never-ending questions about who he was texting.

As Troy's phone beeped indicating Gabriella had sent him a text, the twins started up again.

"Who's texting you?"

"Is it a _girl_?"

"Troy's got a girlfriend!"

"Troy's in love!"

Doing his very best to ignore his brother's comments, Troy flipped open his phone, revealing the new text from Gabriella saying that she had just arrived at the airport. Immediately Troy's eyes glanced upwards, hoping to catch sight of the curly haired girl he couldn't wait to see, even though he knew that she was most likely not in sight yet.

"I wonder where Joseph and Maria are," Jack queried and Troy almost answered that they would be in sight in a few minutes, but he bit his tongue, not wanting his parents to raise questions about him and Gabriella texting each other.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon," Lucille answered, looking over at her oldest son who suddenly looked a little flushed and nervous. "Are you okay, Troy?"

"Hmm what?" Troy stuttered, his eyes shifting from looking around for Gabriella to looking at his Mom.

"Are you okay? You look a little flushed," Lucille commented. "Do you need some water?"

"I'm fine," Troy replied nonchalantly. "You know I'm not that big on flying, Mom."

"Do you want to swap seats with your Father? It's not fair on Gabriella to have to put up with you if you're going to be getting sick," Lucille rambled on.

"No, no, no, Mom. I'll be fine, you can sit with Dad," Troy spluttered, wanting nothing less than to give up his seat next to Gabriella for the long haul flight to New Zealand.

"Let me know if you change your mind, dear," Lucille said, opening her mouth to speak again but being interrupted by Jack.

"Here's Joseph and Maria!"

Troy's head quickly spun around, his eyes seeking out the teenage girl he was longing to see, a smile settling upon his lips as he spotted her, dressed casually in fitting grey sweatpants, a white beater under a red beater and a grey zip up hoody hanging loosely from her shoulders.

Smiling politely at the older Montez family members, Troy made his way closer to Gabriella, reaching down to ruffle Charlie's hair as he shot Gabriella a grin.

"Hey you," he said softly, trying not to draw their families attention.

"Hey," Gabriella replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

"My brothers are already driving me crazy," Troy said with a light laugh. "We should accidentally get lost in LA and miss the vacation."

Gabriella giggled, shifting Charlie in her arms as she looked up at Troy through her dark lashes.

"The trip seems less and less horrific the more I get to know you," she confessed, feeling her cheeks tinge red as she spoke.

"The feeling's mutual," Troy said sincerely, letting his hand drop down to gently push some of Gabriella's curls from her face.

"Troy? Gabriella? Let's go, it's time to check in our luggage," Jack called out, interrupting the teen's private moment.

Troy bent his head down to Gabriella's ear, letting his warm breath tickle her as he spoke.

"Let the chaos begin."

---

Troy rolled his eyes at the man in the seat next to Gabriella. He was an older man of about 35 and he was completely obsessed with Troy's travelling buddy.

"Do you need anything from the cart?" Jim, the older man asked Gabriella, flashing his off-white smile in her direction.

"No thank you," Gabriella replied politely, looking at Troy for help when Jim patted her arm lightly and then left his hand resting there.

They'd only been on the flight two hours and Jim was driving both Troy and Gabriella insane, not to mention grossing them out at his constantly flirting with Gabriella.

"Baby, are you tired?" Troy asked, suddenly getting an idea, and he widened his eyes at Gabriella as if to tell her to play along.

Gabriella let out a fake yawn, stretching her arms a little above her head, making her tops pull up, revealing a perfectly flat, tanned stomach which made Troy's heart race.

"I am actually," Gabriella replied, winking at Troy. "Can I cuddle you? The plane seats aren't that comfy."

"Sure, come here," Troy replied softly, lifting up the arm rest between their seats. "Lie your seat back so you don't get a sore neck."

Gabriella did as Troy instructed, pushing her chair back until it was even with Troy's own.

Eagerly, Troy slipped his arm around Gabriella's shoulders, bringing her body to rest against his own, her head sliding comfortably in the nook of her neck and her arm slipping across Troy's stomach, pressing their bodies together deliciously.

"Comfy?" Troy whispered in Gabriella's ear, and Gabriella knew he had long forgotten about Jim.

Nodding softly Gabriella let out a real yawn this time, feeling herself become tired as she cuddled into Troy's warm body.

Bringing his free hand up Troy once again pushed the curl's from Gabriella's face as her eyes fluttered closed in relaxation.

"Sleep tight, Brie," he whispered.

--

Hours later Troy was woken from his own sleep by the sudden coldness against his side as the warm body that was cuddled into him moved away.

He fumbled around trying to bring the warmth back to him, only be met by the sound of musical giggles.

"Wake up sleepy head," Gabriella giggled. "They're serving breakfast now."

Troy slowly opened his eyes, his lashes fluttering against his cheeks as he pushed away the last of the sleep from his brain.

The way his sleepy blue eyes immediately fixed on her made Gabriella smile bashfully as she thought back over the time since they had met at their airport, and how often since then Troy had gone out of his way to touch her, or pay her a compliment or even just to shoot her a dazzling smile.

Troy perked up at the mention of food but he still reached his hand back out, lacing Gabriella's fingers with his own as he met her eyes.

"You're the comfiest blanket I've ever had," he said flirted.

"Well you happen to be the most comfortable pillow I've ever had," Gabriella flirted back, scooting over slightly in her chair til her knee brushed against Troy's.

The pair smiled at each other, forgetting about the hundreds of other people on the plane as they got lost in their own world, the chatter melting into the background, nothing else mattering in that second except their ever-nearing lips.

Troy felt a lump in his throat as he watched Gabriella's eyes flutter closed, and he quickly swallowed nervously before closing his own eyes. He could feel Gabriella's breath against his face, his free hand reaching out to cup her cheek just before their lips met.

"Troy! What are you having for breakfast?" Came the loud comment from the seats behind the pair where their younger brothers were sitting.

And the moment was over before it had really began.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Just a quick thanks to all my reviewers from the last chapter. I'm totally overwhelmed with the response for this story so far :)**

**I'm sorry if I don't get the chance to update next week, I'm starting a 4 week teaching experience block, so between that, my normal job, assignments and that little thing called Real Life, I might not get too much chance to write, and so this is just a little forewarning. Enjoy and don't forget your lovely reviews.  
**

Troy couldn't help but smile at Gabriella's terrified expression as they prepared to land in New Zealand.

"Don't laugh," Gabriella shot out through her clenched teeth. "Can you not see that we're dropping down right near the ocean?"

"We're landing, Brie, not dropping. And I'm sure the pilot know where he's meant to be landing," Troy said softly, reaching out for Gabriella's hand which was on her thigh, her nails digging into her thigh in terror.

"I doubt it," Gabriella muttered, barely loud enough for Troy to hear her.

"Look at how green everything is," Troy said gently, trying his hardest to distract Gabriella from the landing. "I see sheep!"

Unable to help herself Gabriella giggled at his comment, "I think we're going to see a bunch of sheep while we're here."

"I think you might be right," Troy replied, squeezing Gabriella's hand gently. "I also think you might be breaking my hand."

"Deal with it, Bolton," Gabriella smirked, although she loosened her grip slightly, but only for a second as the wheels touched down on the runway, startling her.

"Shhh," Troy coaxed, using his free hand to draw her body closer to his own, his fingers playing with her curls as Gabriella whimpered.

Gabriella immediately felt relaxed in Troy's embrace, but she still trembled as the plane carried on down the runway.

"Are you okay?" Troy whispered gently in her ear and Gabriella gave a quick nod against his shoulder, the pair both forgetting that their brothers were sitting right behind them until a sharp kick hit the back of Troy's chair, breaking the moment.

Ignoring his brothers Troy watched Gabriella, wondering how someone could look so perfect after a 24 hour flight. She had changed when they landed briefly in Sydney and was now dressed in black full length leggings, a baggy white sweatshirt and black sneakers, her hair kept back from her face by a simple black headband.

"Troy?" Gabriella's musical voice broke through his thoughts and he realised he had been staring at her with a smile on his face. "You wanna take a picture?"

Shaking his head at her teasing Troy reaching his hand down and lightly tickled her side, making her giggle.

"Why would I need a picture when I can have you anytime I want for the next 3 months?" He teased right back, making Gabriella blush.

Just as Gabriella opened her mouth to speak, Will came into view and Troy snatched his hand away from it's resting spot on Gabriella's hip.

"Gabi, are we in New Zealand now?" He asked excitedly, and Gabriella nodded, standing up herself.

"Have you guys got your carry on luggage?" Jack's voice called across the plane and all five children nodded, with Troy and Gabriella double checking under their brothers' chairs before they started to get off the plane.

"God it's cold," Troy muttered to Gabriella. "Who'd miss out on summer for a second winter?"

"Crazy parents who like to drag their kids halfway around the world," Gabriella muttered back as the pair started to lag behind their families as they entered the airport.

Gabriella looked around the airport as they entered, deeming it to look very plain in comparison to some of the airports she had been in before.

"I hope the rest of the country is more interesting than this," she whispered to Troy. "This looks more boring than a regular boring airport."

"What were you expecting?" Troy teased. "A stone age looking airport? Or something from the Victorian times maybe?"

Gabriella swiped her arm around at Troy, smacking him soundly in the stomach, causing an "oof" to sound from him and alerting the teenagers' presence to their parents.

"Are you two okay?" Maria asked, eying them suspiciously.

"Fine," Gabriella smiled. "Troy just walked into my fist."

The parents shot looks between themselves, wondering if it was possible that their teenagers seemed to be having a good time, finding it amazing that there had been no complaints from neither Troy nor Gabriella since the first time they had met at the Montez house.

When their parents had turned away and were again talking amongst themselves Troy let out a small laugh.

"I walked into your fist?"

"Yes. It's not my fault you can't watch where you're walking," Gabriella chided playfully.

"You're lucky you're cute," Troy muttered under his breath, not realising that Gabriella could hear him.

* * *

"And Gabriella you'll be sleeping up here," Maria announced, pointing to the double bed above the cab. "It has curtains so you can have a bit of privacy."

"Thanks," Gabriella muttered, resisting the urge to tell her parents that she'd have a lot more privacy if they had of just stayed at home.

The two families had just gone to pick up their motor homes from the airport depot, and Gabriella and Troy had reluctantly been separated for the first time since Gabriella arrived at Albuquerque airport.

"Can I sleep up top with Gabi?" Will asked, looking in awe up at his sister's new "bedroom".

"No that's Gabi's space," Joseph explained. "I don't want to find you up there without your sister's permission, alright?"

Joseph knew that it was important that Gabriella had her own personal space in the tiny motor home, and he and Maria had figured the best way to enable this was to give her the bed above the cab where she had her own storage areas.

Before long the two families were safely buckled into their own motor homes with Jack and Joseph each driving to their first place of stay on the journey, Waiwera Holiday Park which was around a 45 minute drive from the airport.

_I think my Dad is going to get us lost._

Gabriella stifled a giggle as she read the text from Troy, the same thought having just gone through her mind as she heard her Dad arguing with the GPS.

_My Dad is arguing with the GPS. Save me._

Looking out at the scenery Gabriella had to marvel at how they were currently travelling in New Zealand's biggest city, but it was no more traffic than there usually was back in New Mexico, and everything around her was so green and natural.

_Saving you would be my pleasure_.

Gabriella felt her heart beat faster at Troy's reply. She knew that she was crushing on him, big time, and he was definitely flirting with her a lot, but Gabriella was afraid that he was only flirting with her because she was the only female around that he could talk to.

Deciding to just have fun while she could Gabriella quickly typed out a reply of "_Such a charmer"_ before she went back to pondering if Troy's feelings were developing like her own were, or if he was simply a natural flirt but her phone buzzing with a reply distracted her thoughts.

_Only for you, Brie._

Just as Gabriella was to type her reply, Joseph announced that they had arrived at the holiday park and Gabriella quickly removed her seatbelt and followed her family out of the motor home and over to where the Bolton's were standing.

Slipping in next to Troy, Gabriella's heart started pounding as Troy took her small hand in his own, lacing their fingers together as he kept his eyes trained on his Dad who was talking to the holiday park owner, finding out where their camp sites were located.

Troy was aware that his family and Gabriella's family could easily spot their joined hands, but he couldn't help his need to be close to Gabriella, his feelings having developed for her faster than he could've ever imagined, which scared him a little bit.

Gabriella's hand felt cold as Troy dropped it when his Dad came back over to them, asking them if they could walk the twins, Will and Charlie over to the campsite, since the boys needed to stretch their legs.

Troy quickly said they would, finding out where the site was, and agreeing that they would keep an eye on the boys to make sure they stayed safe.

Letting their brothers walk ahead of them with Charlie settled on Gabriella's hip, her chocolate brown eyes sleepily closing as Troy and Gabriella walked in silence, each trying to decide if they should bring up where this whole thing was going, or if they were just imagining how the other was feeling.

"Brie?" Troy said softly, deciding that he needed to know what Gabriella was feeling. "This might sound kind of sudden, but I just think you should know, I really like you."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: This was going to be longer, but if I had've written the second half, then it would've been another week or more until you got it, so the lovely Michaela voted I post this much tonight so the thanks goes to her, especially for her help with the conversations. And huge thanks to Stacey for her wonderful knowledge about the locations discussed in this chapter and the upcoming chapters, and her lovely offer to house Troy if he needs a place to stay ;)**.

**I have another week of working 60 hours, and then I'll hopefully be back to weekly updates! I hear reviews make sneezing fits vanish, so you should all get reviewing ;)**

Gabriella smiled up at Troy, his confession making her heart skip a beat and her brain scream with excitement.

But just as she opened her mouth to make her own confession, the sounds of angry shouts coming from their brothers sounded and the pair found themselves once more interrupted.

As Gabriella had a now sleeping Charlie in her arms, Troy quickly broke out into a run, bridging the short space between where he had been and the boys in only a few seconds. Logan and Will's had each others sweatshirts in their fists, their angry, loud voices drawing the attention of the other campers around them, and Connor's voice shouting his encouragement didn't help the situation.

Troy quickly pulled the pair apart, using his arms as a barrier between the two boys who were still arguing loudly.

The shouting had woken Charlie and she was now crying, but Gabriella had to help Troy with the situation because he couldn't keep all three boys separate from each other.

Shifting Charlie back to her hip Gabriella grabbed Will's wrist, pulling him away from the Bolton boys. Troy gave her an appreciate smile before he turned to his brothers, scolding them quietly as Gabriella did the same to Will.

"Honestly Will! We've been on vacation for only a few hours and you're already fighting with Connor and Logan? Do you want to spend the whole time we're here grounded because I'm sure I can arrange that," Gabriella hissed, trying to comfort Charlie at the same time. "Not only are you making a scene but you're giving off one hell of a bad impression."

Gabriella could hear Troy giving a similar lecture to the twins, and she decided to head over to the campsite with just her siblings to try and stop another fight occurring.

* * *

It wasn't until almost three hours later, when dinner had been eaten, Charlie was asleep, the boys had been sent to bed early for fighting and the parents were discussing plans for the next day that Troy and Gabriella were able to get a moment alone.

"Wanna go check this place out with me?" Troy asked Gabriella, his bright blue eyes begging Gabriella to say yes.

"Is that okay?" Gabriella asked her parents quickly, her Dad nodding in reply. Gabriella stood up quickly from her spot on the slightly damp grass, ready to take off with Troy but her Mom had other ideas.

"Take a sweater," Maria told her daughter, and it took all of Gabriella's energy not to roll her eyes. Instead, she went inside and quickly picked up the first hoody she found, slipping it on before she went back outside. Not wanting to give anyone a chance to once again ruin any alone time, Troy and Gabriella quickly rushed off away from their camp site.

Within a few quick minutes the pair were out of their parents' sight and Troy boldly took Gabriella's hand in his own. Gabriella felt her heart start to race as Troy laced their fingers together, their hands fitting perfectly together.

As Gabriella opened her mouth to speak, Troy beat her to it.

"I'm so sorry for just blurting that out before, I understand if you think I'm crazy 'cos we haven't known each other for long and… why are you laughing at me?" Troy half pouted as he saw Gabriella giggling softly.

"I don't think you're crazy," Gabriella admitted, taking a small step towards Troy. "But if you are, then I'm crazy too."

It took a few seconds for Troy's mind to get around the subtle hint of Gabriella's, indicating that she too felt what he did.

"You mean?" Troy stammered, unable to get the words out as his eyes locked with Gabriella's sparkling brown eyes.

Troy swallowed deeply as Gabriella nodded her head of dark curls, biting down shyly on her bottom lip.

"I don't know how, we barely know each other, but I feel like," Troy started.

"You've known me forever?" Gabriella finished off, neither of the pair realising how cheesy and cliché their conversation had become as Troy nodded his answer.

The pair sat down on the slightly damp grass, stretched out next to each other, their hands laced together and their eyes saying all the things that they didn't need to speak, putting big grins on each of their faces.

"So tell me about East High, what's it like being a wildcat?" Gabriella asked, breaking the silence.

Troy rolled onto his side and Gabriella followed suit so that they were sitting face to face while they talked.

"It's like a giant bucket of pep," Troy laughed. "Everyone is full of school spirit so I hope you own lots of red and white."

"I might need to go shopping for some more wildcat appropriate clothing," Gabriella giggled. "My old school didn't have much school spirit. So are you Mr. Big Man on Campus?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, I kinda am," Troy replied sheepishly. "I don't look for the attention, it just happens, sometimes I wish that everyone knew me for who I really am, not just as "the basketball guy" you know?"

"I guess that's the best part about starting at a new school, nobody _has_ to know that I was a geek at my old school, but I always wanted to do track, and I love taking photos of everything," Gabriella admitted.

"You should try out for the track team!" Troy encouraged. "You certainly don't look like a geek so I'll keep that a secret from everyone for you, just don't go reciting pi or anything around school, okay?"

"3.14159265358," Gabriella quickly rattled off, bursting out with laughter at the look on Troy's face.

"Is that really pi?" Troy asked in shock. "How the hell do you remember that?"

Gabriella shrugged, "how do you remember all your basketball things? If you're captain I'm sure you remember a lot of little tricks to help your game, your body probably just _knows_ how to do it."

"Brain-box," Troy shot back simply. "So what do you like taking pictures of Brie?"

"Anything. Charlie, my parents, Will, flowers, trees, water, animals, people at the park," Gabriella said sheepishly. "I took a photography class and I can develop all my own pictures and stuff."

"Wow, that's impressive!" Troy grinned. "Well you happen to be on vacation with this super photogenic guy, so feel free to snap away, I always wondered what it was like to be a model."

Gabriella giggled at Troy's dramatic, high-pitched voice, "where did you learn that voice?" She managed to get out through giggles.

"My friend Sharpay, she's head of the drama department and dates my best friend Chad. She is the biggest drama queen you'll ever meet, but she's harmless if she likes you," Troy said, instantly missing his friends back home, wondering what they were going to be getting up to over Summer without him.

"She sounds… interesting," Gabriella giggled, stifling a yawn as they quietened down, going back to shyly watching each other in silence.

"We should probably get back before you fall asleep," Troy said quietly as Gabriella yawned for the 5th time in only a few minutes.

"It must be like the middle of the night back home," Gabriella said through a yawn as Troy helped her to her feet, his arm slipping around her waist as they started the short walk back to their motorhomes.

"Pretty much," Troy answered simply as he stopped walking, taking a small step so that he was standing in front of Gabriella, his hands resting lightly on her hips. "I was so mad at my parents for dragging me on this vacation, but now I wouldn't swap being here with you for anything."

"Me either," Gabriella whispered, her hands resting gently on Troy's chest.

"Do we have to head back?" Troy asked gently, pulling Gabriella flush against his own body. "It's so nice to get a peaceful moment with you."

"Our families seem pretty intent on ruining any second we get together, don't they?" Gabriella replied, screwing her nose up a little as she pulled back to look up at Troy.

"I think they," Troy started, interrupted by the sound of his cell phone ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller id. "It's my Mom."

Gabriella giggled as Troy flipped open his phone, his voice sounding highly annoyed with his Mom as he gave her quick, one word answers before he hung up.

"We gotta get back, our parents are waiting to go to bed," he announced sadly, taking Gabriella's hand in his own.

"Like we were saying, interrupting every second we get together," Gabriella sighed. "I wonder what we're doing tomorrow."

"Mom said they have a proposition for us, since we seem to be getting along so well," Troy said, remembering back to the conversation and the comment from his Mom that he had brushed off in his annoyance.

"Really? Ooh I'm excited," Gabriella squealed happily making Troy laugh.

"Come on then, let's get back," Troy laughed, slipping his arm back around Gabriella's waist and turning her in the direction of the campsite which was only a few minutes walk away.

When they were just about back in their parents line of sight Troy dropped his arm from around Gabriella, smiling down sadly at her as they kept walking over to their parents who were eying the pair a little suspiciously.

"Have fun?" Jack asked with a smirk, making Gabriella blush even though she willed herself not to give anything away to their parents.

"It was alright," Troy filled in. "There wasn't too much to see, but it was interesting enough."

"Yeah," Gabriella agreed, glad Troy was a quick thinker. "Did you decide what we're going tomorrow?"

"We thought that your Dad, Jack and the boys would go up to this little island, Kawau island, and go fishing, me and Lucille and Charlie are going to go shopping and stock up on food and stuff like that," Maria answered, glancing over at Lucille with a smile at what they had planned for the teenagers.

"And me and Brie are going to?" Troy asked in a slightly worried tone, knowing that the parents had something in mind for them to be doing.

"There's some walking tracks on the island, we thought you two might like to go for a little wander, have a picnic lunch together or something, get to know each other a little better since you'll be going to school together in the fall," Lucille answered, the adults all watching the teenagers for their reactions.

Troy looked over at Gabriella, seeing her brown eyes sparkle at the idea of spending a few hours alone with him and his heart skipped a beat as he remembered back to her confession about her feelings for him.

_Being halfway across the world isn't so bad if I have such a beautiful girl with me,_ Troy thought with a smile.

**A/N: I'll be loading some pics to my profile of the motorhome I have in my mind for this story, but photobucket is hating on me right now so I'll do it tomorrow or something.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So I've had a weekend without internet which has given me a great deal of time to write this chapter, but not really any information for the places visited, so I've had to try to use my brain the best that I can and hope that I can describe these locations correctly. I was going to make this chapter longer, but I couldn't concentrate on my assignment knowing this was unfinished, so I'm going to leave it here before I fail my assignment. Don't forget to tell me what you thought in a lovely review :)**

The next morning was more than chaotic in both of the motorhomes with everybody used to having a lot more space to get ready in the mornings mixed with the onset of major jetlag making tempers flare in a bad start to their vacation.

Troy smiled as he saw Gabriella be the first to exit her family's motorhome, her hair was messily pulled back and she was tugging a oversized dark grey hoody down her petite frame as she walked over towards him, sighing as she sat down on the chair next to Troy.

"Bad morning?" Troy asked with a sympathetic smile, he'd been woken up at the crack of dawn by his brothers, had to endure a 3 minute, barely warm shower and was feeling much less happy about the vacation than he had been the night before.

"My Dad is trying to convince me that I should go shopping with our Mom's," Gabriella grumbled. "Apparently he thinks we looked too "cosy" last night and he doesn't think it's wise for us to be alone together today."

"Are you serious?" Troy yelped, knowing the only thing that stopped him from curling back up in bed after his already horrific morning was the fact that he was spending time alone with the beauty sitting next to him.

"As a heart attack," Gabriella muttered. "My Mom is inside now trying to convince him that we're just friends and all that stuff."

"Shit," Troy mumbled. "I hope she can convince him."

The pair exchanged a quick look that confirmed to the other that they were hoping to become more than just friends and were well on the way to achieving that.

"Me too," Gabriella said, reaching up to brush some loose curls off her face. "You look like you didn't sleep much."

Troy shrugged as he took in Gabriella's also tired expression, "my brothers were up before the sun."

"So was Charlie. Actually I think she was up every hour of the night, it reminds me why I sleep with the radio on at night back home."

"Gabriella? Can we talk to you in here for a few minutes?" Maria's voice interrupted the pair and Gabriella groaned loudly.

"I swear I'm not talking to my Dad if he doesn't let me go with you today," Gabriella threatened as she adjusted her low slung black jeans.

Troy shot Gabriella a hopeful look as she headed back inside, his eyes wandering down her body as he realised that even though Gabriella had so far always been dressed in the most simple outfits, she looked far better than any other girl Troy had ever laid eyes on.

Inside the Montez motorhome, Joseph was looking like a little child who hadn't gotten his own way and Gabriella felt her heart begin to beat faster as she realised that she wasn't having her day with Troy ruined.

"I talked to your Daddy, and you're still spending the day with Troy," Maria's smile grew as her oldest daughter's eyes lit up at the news, confirming Maria's suspicions that Troy and Gabriella were developing a more than plutonic relationship with each other.

"Thank you Mama," Gabriella squealed, giving Maria a quick hug as she flashed Joseph a smile that was victorious yet sympathetic, knowing that her Dad was as stubborn as she herself was and that he wouldn't be happy about Maria trying to convince him that he was wrong.

"Lucile was making the picnic lunch if you want to go over and give her a hand," Maria suggested, looking around the small space for Will who was lying bored on his bed. "You could take Will over and see if the twins wanted to play with him while your Dad and Jack finish getting ready."

Gabriella nodded excitedly, signalling to her younger brother to move off the bed faster. Maria called out to Will telling him to behave himself or there'd be no fishing trip later that morning and Gabriella rolled her eyes at the threat, knowing that her brother was able to get away with anything if he just let loose the tears.

"I take by that smile that your Dad agreed to keep today's plans?" Troy asked happily as Gabriella stepped inside the Bolton motorhome with Will close on her heels.

"He did!" Gabriella beamed, blushing as she quickly realised that Lucile and Jack were eying the pair with knowing glances. "Do you need any help with the picnic lunch, Lucile?" Gabriella quickly added, tearing her eyes from Troy's bright blues.

"No thanks dear, it's just about done, why don't the two of you go and find a blanket to take to sit on the beach," Lucile answered, nodding towards Troy's "room" which was in the same place as Gabriella's in the Montez motorhome.

Troy didn't need to be told twice and neither did Gabriella, the pair hurrying up the small ladder leading up to the space that was Troy's, the curtain closing behind them, giving them the tiniest amount of privacy.

Settling himself down with his back against one of the walls Troy gestured to Gabriella to join him, pulling her down onto his lap when she crawled close enough to him.

"Hi," he whispered, draping his arm across Gabriella's legs as she lay her head down on his shoulder, inhaling his intoxicating scene.

"Hey," she whispered back. "Your Mom is so setting us up."

Troy smiled at Gabriella's blush, pushing some hair off her face as he spoke quietly, trying to eliminate his parents from being able to hear their conversation.

"She is. It would be embarrassing if I wasn't getting to spend time with the most gorgeous girl," Troy kissing the top of Gabriella's hair gently as she blushed even more, burying her face in Troy's neck a little bit further.

"Shhh," Gabriella scolded. "Find us a blanket."

"If you haven't noticed, we're sitting on my bed, which is a large variety of blankets," Troy teased. "I didn't bring you up here to look for a blanket anyways."

Gabriella faked a gasp, "you mean you had an ulterior motive when you brought me up to your bedroom, Troy Bolton?"

"Oh no, I _always_ bring pretty girls to my bedroom to look for blankets," Troy whispered, reaching out to cup Gabriella's cheek in his hand, his thumb caressing her flushed red skin as she bit down nervously on her bottom lip.

"Charmer," Gabriella whispered, her stomach doing somersaults as Troy's lips drew nearer to her own. She could feel his hot breath against her face when a voice broke into their little bubble, snapping the pair apart quickly.

"Are you two just about ready to go? You're riding in here because the twins want to ride with Will, is that okay?" Lucy's voice called up.

"Okay Mom," Troy croaked out, letting his head drop back and hit into the side of the motorhome in frustration.

---

It was no wonder that the tiny yet perfect beach that Troy and Gabriella were sitting on was deserted, it was barely 45 degrees out and the dark clouds looming suggested the rain wasn't far off, but neither teen's mind was on the weather for their were more pressing matters at hand.

Like the fact that they had two hours until they had to meet their Dads and brothers, two precious, uninterrupted hours.

"I can't believe my Dad was trying to make us take the boys," Gabriella groaned, wrapping her arms tighter around her body, trying to keep herself warm.

"He doesn't trust me," Troy pouted. "He thinks I'm going to ravish you completely."

Gabriella looked over at Troy as he said this, a smile playing on her lips.

"You definitely can't ravish me from all the way over there," she giggled, surprised at her own confidence around Troy, wondering how things could just feel so natural and right when she was with him.

Troy looked at the distance between them, knowing he didn't want to seem like he was pressuring Gabriella into anything he had purposely sat on the other side of the blanket to her, making it far easier to suppress his urges to kiss her if she wasn't in such close proximity.

"Anyone would think you want me to ravish you," Troy teased, shuffling himself across the blanket until he was sitting right next to Gabriella "Are you cold?"

Gabriella nodded, shivering not only at the cold wind that was whipping around the enclosed beach, but at the feel of Troy's breath tickling her face.

"Show me those track skills you have then," Troy suggested, knowing a quick run around in the sand would warm them both up but also knowing that he found an athletic woman a huge attraction.

A huge smile spread across Gabriella's face as she jumped up from her spot, grinning down at Troy. "See if you can keep up, wildcat."

With that Gabriella sprinted off across the sand, her body moving flawlessly even with the heavy layers of clothing covering it. After sitting, watching for a few seconds Troy leap to his feet taking off after Gabriella, gaining on her as she slowed down for a second or two to let him almost catch up.

As Troy spurred forward with the intent to grab Gabriella when he was close enough, Gabriella sensed his plan, darting under his arm as he reached for her and taking off to the other end of the beach, loving the stretch of her muscles as she worked them harder than she had in the past few weeks.

The game of chase continued for quite some time, both Troy and Gabriella determined to show off their stamina, but soon Gabriella became too hot too continue running, instead collapsing down onto the blanket, smiling up at Troy who sat himself next to her, his body half hovering over her own.

"Impressive," he grinned, flipping his sweaty, light brown hair out of his eyes.

"Could say the same for you," Gabriella grinned back, reaching her hand up to push the last strands off Troy's forehead, her hand stilling in his hair as the air around them grew thick.

Gabriella watched as Troy's gaze move quickly from her eyes to her lips and back again, his body leaning closer to hers as his tongue darted out to wet his lips. Gabriella's heart was racing as Troy seemed to be taking forever to reach her, impatiently she tangled her fingers in his hair, tugging him gently down closer to her until barely any space remained between their lips.

"Brie," Troy whispered breathily as he closed the gap, kissing Gabriella softly, instantly loving the way her lips returned the pressure and the way her fingers moved against his scalp in a perfect imitation of their lips dancing together.

Troy rested all his body weight on one arm as he reached out for Gabriella's hip, drawing her closer to him, his fingers burning her skin even though the denim of her jeans separated their skin as he moved his body over hers slightly more.

All too soon oxygen became a problem and Troy reluctantly broke the kiss, nuzzling into Gabriella's neck as he tried to catch his breath, his lips gently kissing her racing pulse. Troy raised his head a few seconds later ready to continue kissing Gabriella some more and he found her eyes still closed in bliss.

Unable to resist Troy pressed his lips back against Gabriella's, spurred on by a quiet moan deep in Gabriella's throat at the unexpected second kiss, sliding his tongue out he gently swept it across Gabriella's bottom lip, feeling her mouth open in response to his question. Instead of plunging his tongue in like Troy knew she was expecting him to, he sucked her bottom lip softly into his mouth, nibbling ever so slightly eliciting a quiet mew from Gabriella.

Desperate to feel Troy's tongue dancing with her own Gabriella snaked her tongue out, licking against Troy's top lip and making him immediately release her bottom lip, curling his tongue around her own in a passion filled kiss.

The morning carried on in a similar way, with Troy and Gabriella sharing heated kisses between short conversations about their lives. With Gabriella snuggled peacefully in his lap Troy looked down at his watch, realising they had 15 minutes until they had to start the walk back to meet their families.

"Can I go and get my camera out of my bag?" Gabriella asked just as Troy was about to tell her about the short amount of time they had left together. "We need to start heading back soon right?"

Troy released her from his grip, letting her stretch her tiny limbs before she walked across the blanket to her back.

"Yeah we have like 15 minutes left," Troy responded, watching Gabriella lift the camera strap up and over her head, leaving the camera dangling around her neck as she peered out to the waves in thought.

It was fascinating to him how she looked so deep in thought as she peered around at their surroundings, and it made Troy look closer at the things that surrounded them, things he hadn't paid attention to as he was too wrapped up in the dark haired beauty he had with him.

The sand wasn't the soft, flawless golden grains of the beaches he had been to as a child, it was more rough, and pale in colour except where it was still damp from the rain the night before, that sand was dirt coloured, and had an unusual looking texture to it. The water was much more green than blue, thanks to the unpleasant weather, and the waves were rough, but small, hammering into the shoreline repeatedly, stubborn and angry.

The scenery of the back of the area was green, more shades of green than Troy had ever seen in his life, leaves of all shapes and sizes made up the bushes and trees in the area, and over the wind and waves Troy could hear birds singing, and insects buzzing lightly, the untouched land a serene place, beautiful despite it's simplicity.

Gabriella couldn't help but snap a picture of Troy fully observing the area around them, he looked so peaceful and calm, and Gabriella quickly set her camera to black and white before she took another few shots, smiling at Troy as he noticed the camera flash.

"Taking advantage of my good looks, are you, Montez?" Troy teased as he took the few steps towards Gabriella, looping his arms around her waist as she turned away from him and back to the ocean.

"You were merely in the picture, I was snapping the beautiful nature around you," Gabriella said through a giggle as she took some photos of the ocean, including one of a seagull dipping down to catch something from the water.

"As cute as you are looking so intellectual and stuff, we need to head back before your Dad freaks that I've stolen his little girl," Troy said sadly, not wanting the time with Gabriella to draw to an end.

Surprising herself and most definitely surprising Troy, Gabriella twisted herself in his arms, standing slightly on tip toes to place a kiss on Troy's lips, her hands cupping his face gently as she asked for permission to enter his mouth, something Troy was only too happy to give her.

As Gabriella's tongue darted into his mouth Troy wrapped his arms tighter around Gabriella's waist, drawing their bodies flush against one another, the camera crushing between their bodies painfully, ending the kiss.

"Sorry," Troy said sincerely as he took a step back from Gabriella, "you alright?"

Gabriella nodded, rubbing her ribcage through her sweatshirt as she smiled sadly, "I guess we need to walk back now?"

"Sadly, but I can hold your hand for the walk back," Troy bent down and gave Gabriella a kiss on the nose, making her giggle in response. "Just let me pack up this blanket and we'll get going."

A few minutes later and the pair were walking back down the easily defined bush track, their topic of conversation had turned to trying to name famous people that lived in New Zealand.

"The Crocodile Hunter?" Troy guessed, slipping his hand into Gabriella's, lacing their fingers together as she turned to look at him with a quizzical expression on her face.

"Troy, he was Australian," Gabriella replied, unsure if Troy was being serious or not.

"Oh right, well he was from this area of the world," Troy reasoned.

"The game was people who live or were born in New Zealand," Gabriella argued. "Like the actress who played Xena."

"Lucy Lawless!" Troy exclaimed. "I know her."

"Of course you do," Gabriella muttered. "The guy who climbed Mount Everest."

"Don't know him," Troy replied, watching as Gabriella's expression turned thoughtful as she racked her mind for the name of the famous man.

"Hillary…" Gabriella thought out loud. "Edward? No Edmund. Edmund Hillary."

"Geek," Troy muttered, shooting Gabriella a smile as she playfully glared at him. "My turn, okay, Heath Ledger!"

"Australian," Gabriella groaned. "The guy who played Andy on One Tree Hill, he was from here. This city, Auckland, actually."

"How do you know these things?" Troy asked in amusement. "You're like one of those 'random fact' emails that people send me."

"Speaking of random facts, New Zealand has a One Tree Hill, except there's no tree there now… so I guess now it's No Tree Hill…" Gabriella supplied, missing the smirk that Troy shot her.

"Alright Miss Encyclopaedia," Troy teased. "That guy who directed Lord of the Rings, he was from here wasn't he?"

"Peter Jackson, yeah he was," Gabriella replied. "You finally got one!"

"For someone so cute, you're awfully mean," Troy pouted.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment. And Ernest Rutherford, the man who split the atom, he was a New Zealander."

"The man who split the atom? Come on Brie, use that brain of yours to think of some interesting people!"

Gabriella didn't bother to tell Troy what was so interesting about splitting the atom, she merely laughed. "When you use your brain to tell me about some people from New Zealand, not just listing Australians."

"Michael Campbell, golfer," Troy shot back. "See I can play this game as well!"

Gabriella had grown bored of the game, realising she was fast running out of people to name and instead of replying to Troy she unlaced their fingers and dropped his hand, smiling proudly at him before she took off at a fast pace, running off down the track with Troy quickly following her, soon running next to her on the thin path.

Just as the pair came off the track and started to slow down, Gabriella slipped on a wet rock, falling down and landing on her wrist awkwardly.

Troy stopped in his tracks as he heard her hiss of pain and he spun around to face her, seeing he cradling her wrist in her uninjured hand.

"Brie, are you alright?" Troy asked shakily, kneeling next to her, seeing her eyes filled with tears.

Gabriella only shook her head no, biting her lip harshly as she started to cry. Carefully, Troy scooped Gabriella up in his arms, carrying her bridal style the short distance to where they were meeting their families who weren't in sight.

Troy placed Gabriella down on the wooden bench, kneeling between her knees as he gently took her wrist in his hands seeing that it was already swollen and was sitting at a weird angle.

"Brie, I think your wrist might be broken," Troy said gently. "I'm gunna use my hoody to make a sling alright?"

Gabriella nodded tearfully as Troy took off his hoody, using it to make a makeshift sling for Gabriella's arm like he his Dad had done once when Troy had injured his arm on a camping trip once.

Just as Troy was tying the sleeves together around Gabriella's neck, Jack, Joseph and the boys arrived back.

"Gabi!" Joseph cried. "What happened to you?"

"I slipped over," Gabriella said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I think her wrist is broken," Troy spoke up, looking at his Dad, knowing that with 3 sports mad sons, Jack had plenty of experience with broken bones.

"Gabriella, honey, can I just have a quick look before we get on the boat?" Jack asked sweetly, kneeling down next to Troy.

Gabriella nodded, letting Jack take her wrist from the makeshift sling and pressing down gently on it, making Gabriella cry out.

"I'm not a doctor, but I'd say that it's most likely your wrist is broken," Jack said sadly, placing Gabriella's wrist back in the sling.

"Don't worry, Gabi, I'll call your Mama and let her know," Joseph kissed his daughter on the cheek before he walked away, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket to call Maria.

"Troy?" Gabriella asked shakily, at that moment not caring who was around, just wanting to be comforted by the one she knew could calm her the best. "Can I have a hug?"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: This chapter is a special birthday present for Stacey!!!!! (few special droolworthy moments for you in here ;) enjoy!)  
**

** She deserves a thanks for helping me out with some ideas in this chapter, and thanks also needs to go to Corii for reading through when I got discouraged and helping me outta my writing slump!**

**Reviews make Troy take his top off more often ;)  
**

Troy resisted the urge to scream as he sat in his motorhome on the slow journey back to the campsite. He'd spent the day with his parents, brothers and Will, firstly going to the Waihi Gold Mining Museum and then taking a drive to get lunch.

It was two days since Gabriella broke her wrist in 2 places and she was still in a considerable amount of pain, so Maria and Joseph had stayed back at the campsite with their daughters while the Bolton's and Will went exploring. Troy had tried to beg his Mom to let him stay back as well, but Lucile had merely informed him that Gabriella would still be there when they got back.

"Troy?"

Troy's head snapped up at the mention of his name, seeing Will looking at him a tiny bit unsure about if he really wanted to be talking to the older boy who had snapped at everyone so far that day.

"Yeah?" Troy grunted.

"Can Gabi come swimming tonight?" He asked sadly.

Troy nodded his head, spending the day with Will had allowed him to see how much the young boy idolized his older sister, he had asked numerous questions about his sister's condition and her abilities – or lack of – all day, and while it warmed Troy's heart to see the unconditional love it made him miss Gabriella more.

"She was getting something that she can wear in the pool tonight," Troy replied to Will who seemed happy with the answer and turned his attention back to the conversation with the twins, leaving Troy to txt Gabriella.

_Hope I don't wake you. How's the patient this afternoon?_

He didn't have to wait long before his phone buzzed in reply, making his heart speed up as he looked at the time on his phone and realised he'd be back at the camp site in about ten minutes.

_Bored. Are you going to be back soon?_

Troy couldn't hide the smile that crossed over his face as he realised she must be missing him as much as he was missing her, the teenagers already having become quickly adjusted to having the other one around.

_About ten minutes. Are you needing a Troy Bolton hug to make your arm better?_

Gabriella smirked as she read the text message, her t-shirt dropping to the bed as she used her good hand to type out a flirty message back, wondering how Troy would react to her starting the flirting instead of him.

_My lips are feeling a bit sore… you can't hug them so maybe you'll have to fix them in a different way…_

Awkwardly, Gabriella slipped her grey t-shirt over her head, layering it over her black long sleeved t-shirt that she was wearing with black sweatpants. She had been lounging around in her pyjamas all day, but when she noticed the time and remembered that Troy would be back quite soon she had quickly washed her face, brushed her hair and teeth and found some clean clothes to change into.

Since arriving in New Zealand and having their first kiss, Gabriella and Troy had been unable to get enough of each other. Troy had gone to the hospital with Gabriella, at her insistence, and they had been practically inseparable ever since. When Gabriella was in pain, all she wanted was to cuddle with Troy and she hated having to miss out on the planned activities because she was too tired or sore.

Her phone beeping drew Gabriella out of her thoughts and she nervously read Troy's reply, not noticing her Mom had climbed up the ladder to Gabriella's space in the motorhome and saw her daughter's goofy smile appear.

_Ten minutes has never been so long. If you want we can hang out tonight when everyone else goes swimming?_

"When's Troy going to be back?" Maria teased her daughter, watching Gabriella's cheeks redden.

"Um 10 minutes I think," Gabriella stuttered, wondering how she was going to request to her Mom some alone time with Troy. "Mama?"

"Yes, Gabi?" Maria asked as she picked up Gabriella's dirty laundry.

"Can Troy stay with me when everyone goes swimming tonight? It'll give you a chance to take Charlie to the pool, she hasn't got to go yet cause you know Dad doesn't like taking her there," Gabriella rambled.

"I'll talk to Lucile, but remember you can come swimming tonight, remember you've got your waterproof cast now," Maria answered noncommittal. "I know you and Troy are getting serious, sweetheart, but we don't want things going too _fast_."

Gabriella covered her face with her good arm. "Mama! Nothing like _that_ is happening!" Gabriella squealed in embarrassment.

"I'm just saying," Maria commented. "I just want to protect you."

Gabriella didn't answer, instead she turned away from her Mom and moved to lay down on her bed, avoiding her Mom's gaze until she eventually went back down the ladder into the main part of the motorhome.

It was unclear to Gabriella about how her Mom had suddenly gotten all protective of her, after it was her and Lucile's doing that had pushed the teens together to start with, they were now closely watched and unable to get any alone time together, thanks to their Moms.

_Can I come up?_

Gabriella forgot she never replied to Troy's text and quickly called out to her Mom.

"Mama, can Troy come here until dinner?"

After receiving the okay from Maria who seemed to be feeling a little bad for having gotten so serious on her crushed out daughter, Gabriella typed back to Troy to tell him it was okay and he appeared a few long minutes later.

"Hey pretty girl," Troy whispered as he crawled the short space over to Gabriella, kissing her gently on the lips before he lay down on the bed with her, letting Gabriella snuggle into his side peacefully. "Did you have a nice day?"

"I am now," Gabriella answered honestly. "My Mom came up just before and basically said to me she doesn't want us to be having sex."

"Sex?" Troy chuckled. "She's moving a bit fast isn't she?"

"She's _protecting me_," Gabriella groaned. "I asked her if you could stay with me while she took Charlie swimming and she sprung it on me."

"Our Moms are a bit crazy," Troy decided. "First they send us out alone, try to get us together or whatever, and now they're doing the opposite!"

"That's what I was thinking before you arrived," Gabriella confessed.

"Speaking of before I arrived, are those pretty lips still sore?" Troy asked huskily, turning more on his side so he was face to face with Gabriella.

Having lost the ability to form words Gabriella merely nodded tilting her head as Troy's lips descended on her own, meeting softly at first but more passionately with every passing moment.

In desperate need for oxygen, Troy broke the kiss, peppering his lips along Gabriella's jaw as the pair caught their breath.

"How was your day?" Gabriella asked a few minutes later as Troy lazily played with her curls, her body curled up against his own.

"Museum… boring. Driving for over an hour through farmland and small towns to get McDonalds… pointless. Kissing you… amazing," Troy kissed Gabriella's forehead as she smiled up at him.

"You're such a sweet talker," Gabriella scolded.

As Troy opened his mouth to answer, Will's head appeared through the curtains that closed off Gabriella's space.

"Mom says that dinner's ready in five minutes," Will announced before looking between the pair. "Were you guys kissing? Ew!"

Gabriella shot her brother a stern look and he laughed as he moved out of view.

"I swear I'm going to," Gabriella started, cut off by Troy's lips meeting her own, his tongue begging for entrance which she happily granted, the thoughts of her younger brother disappearing quick fast.

"Going to what?" Troy asked huskily as they broke for air once more.

"Hmm?" Gabriella purred, connecting their lips again, wasting no time letting Troy gain access to her mouth, their tongues dancing as their bodies melted together.

"Gabi! Troy! Dinner!" Maria called up to the teens who reluctantly separated their lips, their bodies still pressed closely together as they smiled at one another.

They knew that while they were still far from having privacy, any second they got alone with the other was enough for them.

-----

After dinner while the kids cleaned up, Lucile and Maria talked about Troy and Gabriella, coming to the decision that Gabriella could go to the pool with everyone else and her and Troy could spend some time together there.

"But Mom!" Troy whined as his Mom told him the outcome of the conversation. "Don't you trust me?"

"I trust you Troy, but I don't trust your hormones," Lucile explained, making Troy blush as he thought back to the feelings making out with Gabriella earlier had ensued. "And that blush tells me I'm right in the way that your relationship is heading."

"Mom. This is… it's just… it's unfair!" Troy cried out. "So what if I like Gabriella? She's beautiful and smart and funny, you can't keep us apart forever."

"Troy, sweetie, I promise this is all just to protect you. Your relationship with Gabriella is still fresh, if things were to turn sour you'd still have to be practically living with her for the next three months."

"There isn't going to be a relationship if we don't get any time together," Troy muttered. "I'm going to go change into my suit."

In the Montez motorhome, Gabriella had already stormed away from Maria, ending the conversation halfway as she tore up the ladder to her bed as fast as she could with one of her arms in plaster.

She had changed into her suit and put her cast cover into a bag with her towel to take to the pool so that she could swim and she was laying on her bed, cross with her Mom for not letting her hang out alone with Troy.

"Come on pumpkin, the Bolton's are waiting," Joseph called up to his daughter, waiting for her to appear and then helping her down the ladder. "How's the wrist?"

"Fine," Gabriella replied shortly. "Let's go."

Joseph smiled at his daughter's attitude, having been filled in by Maria only a few minutes ago and he followed her out of the motorhome where she went straight over to Troy, letting him embrace her tightly.

"Did I mention I hate parents," Gabriella mumbled into Troy's chest as he rested his chin on the top of her head.

"I second that motion," Troy whispered, hugging her tighter.

"Come on you two," Jack called out to the teens as the families headed over to the heated pool that the campsite had.

Troy laced his fingers with Gabriella's, taking her bag from her shoulder and carrying it for her, which earned him a smile.

The walk to the pool was only a few minutes long and when they got there everyone bar Troy and Gabriella wasted no time jumping into the warm water. Troy sat down in front of Gabriella, helping her to pull her cover over the cast and suction the air out.

"Ready to swim?" Troy asked when they were sure the cast was sealed. Gabriella nodded and Troy took off his hoody, revealing his bare chest.

Gabriella forgot to breathe for a second, her eyes trained on the forming muscles of Troy's torso, his tanned skin almost glowing in the poolside light.

"Perve," Troy whispered, breaking Gabriella's stare and making her blush deeply.

Turning away from Troy, Gabriella tore off her own sweatshirt and t-shirt, slipping her shorts down her legs before she turned back to Troy who's turn it was to stare.

"Shit," Troy breathed as his eyes danced down Gabriella's body, making her shift nervously.

"Come on! The water's perfect!" Jack called out breaking the moment between Troy and Gabriella once more.

The pair got into the water, swimming away from their families as much as possible, Troy gently trapping Gabriella against the pool wall as he bent down to whisper in her ear.

"And I thought you were beautiful before," he complimented. Gabriella bit her lip nervously as she felt butterflies erupt in her stomach. Knowing that if she didn't move within the next few seconds they were going to end up forgetting their parents and siblings were nearby and she didn't want that to happen.

Pushing him gently with her good hand Gabriella managed to increase the distance between her and Troy, her dark eyes sparking playfully as she splashed water up at him.

"I keep telling you you're a sweet talker," she chided as she moved away from him slowly, seeing the glint in his eye before he swung his arm in the water, spraying her completely.

"You're gunna pay for splashing me, Brie," Troy warned advancing on Gabriella who kept on backing up away from him.

"Bring it on, Bolton," Gabriella teased, the anger towards their parents disappearing as the two slipped into their own world.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Okay so huge thanks to everyone who helped me with this chapter, especially Corii, Dee, Michaela and Stacey who all helped me get unstuck, otherwise I would've been more late in posting this! Enjoy, and don't forget your lovely reviews, they make Troy and Gabriella more crazy for each other ;).**

"Troy, don't make me come up there!" Lucile called out to her son, trying to make her voice sound more annoyed than she really was.

She had called out to Troy three times that he and Gabriella needed to come down from Troy's loft bed so that the families could leave for their drive up to Hot Water Beach where they were having a picnic lunch and making the most of a fairly sunny day.

But Troy wasn't ready to spend the day with parents and younger siblings, he was having far too much fun right where he was. Hovering over Gabriella, his lips attached to the soft skin of her neck.

"Troy," Gabriella whimpered, her fingers tightening in Troy's hair. "She seems serious." Gabriella said half heartedly, knowing that the last thing she wanted was for Troy to stop his ministrations.

"And I'm serious about staying here," Troy whispered in Gabriella's ear, placing a gentle kiss there before he moved his lips back to Gabriella's own, sliding his tongue against hers, his hips pressing harder against Gabriella's, making the teens forget about Lucile waiting for them.

The pair were quickly developing their physical relationship, the previous night when they had gotten over their anger towards their parents making them go to the pool, the pair had swum for a while, flirting like crazy and then finally convinced their parents to let them go and sit alone in the sauna for a short time.

_Gabriella swore she saw a small pout cross Troy's face as she wrapped her body up in a towel so that she didn't get cold on the quick walk to the sauna._

"_Ready?" She asked Troy, snapping his attention away from her damp skin that the towel wasn't covering._

_Troy nodded, giving his parents a quick wave before he put his hand on Gabriella's back, gently leading her away from the pool area. The short walk was silent, the pair communicating instead with smouldering looks and quick brushes against the other's body._

_They were both glad when they saw a couple getting out of the sauna just as they arrived, Troy held the door open for Gabriella and then joined her inside hanging his towel on the hook just inside the door and holding his hand out for Gabriella's._

_Gabriella suddenly felt nervous to remove her towel from around her body, she knew she had been in her bikini around Troy for the past hour, but his glances had been limited, thanks to the company of their parents, and she felt her stomach turn at the knowledge that he was going to have nothing stopping him from looking at her properly now._

"_Brie are you okay?" Troy had asked, noticing Gabriella was frozen in the process of removing her towel. "You don't uh have to take it off." He added lamely._

"_No, I'm okay," Gabriella replied shakily, taking the towel off the rest of the way and putting it quickly in Troy's outstretched hand. "Thanks."_

_Troy tore his gaze away from Gabriella's glowing body, turning to hang up her towel he took a deep breath, reminding himself that their relationship was still growing and he needed to cut the hormones and go slowly otherwise he was going to freak Gabriella out._

_When he turned back around, Gabriella was already sitting on the dark wooden bench that ran along the wall opposite the door, so Troy took the few steps across the sauna to sit next to her._

_Gabriella surprised not only herself, but Troy as well when she launched herself at him, straddling his lap and attaching their lips, quickly sucking on Troy's bottom lip, asking for entrance to his mouth, making Troy forget all about going slowly as his hands slid down her back to rest his hands against her barely covered ass and pulling their bodies flush against one another's._

All too eager, Troy and Gabriella had returned to Troy's bed after a hurried breakfast, determined to get in some alone time to continue the previous night's exploration.

"Why aren't you wearing your bikini?" Troy mumbled against Gabriella's lips as his hand slipped under her t-shirt, desperate to feel her silky skin against his rough hand.

"Mmm," was all that Gabriella could get out as every inch of her body exploded into flames at Troy's touch. She knew that his Mom was going to catch them any second, but she was unwilling to stop Troy's hand, so instead she caught his lips with her own again and kissed him, moaning into his mouth as he reached his goal and cupped her in his hand.

"I'm coming up!" Lucile announced and the teens heard her footsteps on the ladder, causing them to reluctantly break their kiss, Troy's hand sliding down Gabriella's flat stomach, out from under her shirt to grab her hand as he shot her a smile and rolled off her.

Taking in Gabriella's flushed cheeks and swollen lips, Troy almost forgot that his Mom was just about to enter their space, stopping himself just in time from swooping back down and sucking on Gabriella's bottom lip that was forming an adorable pout at the interruption.

"Okay Mom, we're coming down," Troy said as Lucile appeared in their view, rolling her eyes at her son.

"Now," Lucile stated with a raise of her eyebrows. "Don't make me go and get Joseph."

Troy gulped at the mention of Gabriella's Dad. "Mom! I said we were coming down."

"Just making sure," Lucile smiled. "Are you two still riding in Gabriella's motorhome?"

The night before, after Troy and Gabriella's time in the sauna, Connor asked if Will could ride in their motorhome on the drive to the beach, and Gabriella had quickly said that Troy could ride in their motorhome if the younger boys wanted to sit together.

The parents had all shot each other knowing looks, they were already going to suggest what their kids were proposing, but were happy to let them think it was their own idea, especially at the smiles that appeared on Troy and Gabriella's faces at the approved answer.

Troy quickly looked down at Gabriella who nodded her head quickly, confirming she still wanted Troy to ride with her.

"Yeah I am, is that still okay?" Troy asked nervously, hoping their parents hadn't changed their mind.

"That's still fine," Lucile confirmed. "Now down you two come."

The pair followed Lucile down the ladder and into the main part of the motorhome where Jack was cleaning up the kitchen area and the twins were climbing all over the seats.

"Oi! You two!" Troy scolded his brothers. "You wanna not ruin the seats?" He turned back to Gabriella as Logan and Connor immediately sat down in their seats.

"I better go and make sure my family is ready to leave," Gabriella said reluctantly, knowing that she got to spend the day with Troy, but really wanting to go back up to his bed and continue their activities.

"I'll come," Troy started, but he was interrupted by Lucile.

"Troy I need you to help me make some sandwiches for the picnic," Lucile interrupted. "You can see Gabriella in half an hour."

Shrugging her shoulders, Gabriella dropped Troy's hand, intending to leave but Troy instead wrapped an arm around her waist, dipping his head so he could kiss her lips softly.

"Bye," he whispered as Gabriella's eyes fluttered open.

"Bye," Gabriella choked out, wondering how such a simple, innocent kiss could make her heart leap into her throat.

---

"Told you this was a boring drive," Troy complained to Gabriella, stretching his arm around her shoulders. "How much farmland does one country need?"

Gabriella giggled at Troy's question, "Troy? You know we've only seen a tiny bit of New Zealand, right? There's going to be way more farmland over the next 3 months than you'll see for the rest of your life."

"What's your favourite food?" Troy asked, making Gabriella blink in surprise at how he got from talking about farmland to asking her such a random question.

"Um hamburgers. My Grandma taught me how to make the patties myself with her special recipe," Gabriella admitted. "Honestly better than anything you can ever buy."

"Interesting," Troy commented with a smile. "What about your favourite flower?"

"Lilies," Gabriella answered without missing a beat. "What's with the questions?"

"Just asking," Troy responded, dropping a kiss onto Gabriella's forehead. "Colour?"

"Favourite colour of lilies or colour in general?" Gabriella pondered, snuggling closer to Troy.

"Both."

"White lilies, and cobalt blue," Gabriella answered as she looked up at Troy, her eyes fixing on the cobalt blues of Troy and she blushed at her admission.

"Favourite band or singer?" Troy asked, noticing Gabriella's blush but resisting himself from doing something to make the blush darken.

"Jason Mraz."

"Really? A little random there, Brie," Troy teased light-heartedly.

"What's yours then?" Gabriella shot back, trying to turn the question time around.

"No way, this is my time to ask you questions," Troy replied, shaking his head. "Okay so your absolute favourite song ever?"

"Ummm," Gabriella thought for a second. "Can I have two?"

"I think the rules allow that."

"Either 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz or 'Wonderwall' by Oasis," Gabriella said with a nod of her head. "Or!"

"Nah uh, you're not allowed more than two favourite songs," Troy teased, poking Gabriella lightly in the side and making her giggle. "So what songs do you hate?"

"That 'Crazy Frog' song that was around a few years back," Gabriella said. "Will was obsessed with it and I cringe when I hear it now."

"Is that even counted as a song?"

"Of course! It was in the charts and stuff!" Gabriella defended.

"I dunno, Brie," Troy shook his head. "It was more like an annoying cluster of sounds."

"Hate you," Gabriella muttered, trying to shift away from Troy in the tiny space.

"Hate you too, beautiful," Troy replied happily, using his free hand to tilt Gabriella's face up to his own, quickly darting his eyes over to make sure that Charlie was still asleep before he let his lips descend on Gabriella's, brushing gently once, twice before Gabriella pushed herself forward to kiss Troy harder.

"Is Charlie awake?" Maria called out to the teens. "We're only a few minutes from the beach."

Gabriella pulled her lips from Troy, looking over at her still sleeping sister.

"She's asleep," Gabriella answered breathlessly.

"Are you okay, pumpkin?" Joseph called back, hearing his daughter's different voice.

"Perfect, Dad," Gabriella called back, locking eyes with Troy once more, voicing her state more to him than to her Dad.

Half an hour later, Troy and Gabriella were sitting across from each other in a rocky area of the beach, digging in the sand with two plastic shovels.

"Do you really think it's going to be hot water in here?" Troy asked.

"That guy said it would be," Gabriella replied, dumping another shovelful of sand to the pile next to the hole, referring to the man who they had got talking to who had told them a few things about the beach, including that they needed to be careful where they walked because in some spots the sand burnt your feet the water was so hot beneath it.

"How much further til we hit water?" Troy's voice broke Gabriella's thoughts.

"I swear you have the patience of a three year old, Troy," Gabriella scolded with a sparkle in her eye.

Troy winked at her, quickly leaning across the hole and kissing her gently. "I've waited a whole five minutes to do that again."

"Ewww, Troy and Gabriella are kissing again!" Came the disgusted cry of Connor. "That's so gross. You'll get germs!"

Gabriella burst into giggles at the 9-year-old's claims and she gently pushed Troy away from her as the eyes of all their family members fixed on them.

"Let's go back to digging, huh?" Troy laughed, growing slightly red at the attention they had received.

"Let's," Gabriella agreed.

It wasn't long before they reached the water and found out that it was indeed hot, just as the man had said.

"Pity the ocean isn't this temperature," Gabriella complained. "I wanna go swimming, but I don't want to freeze!"

"We'll go swimming tonight when we get to our new holiday park, alright?" Troy bargained, lifting Gabriella's legs and placing her feet in the hole, letting the warm water heat them up.

"You think they're going to let us go somewhere alone, in minimal clothing after how long we ended up in the sauna last night?" Gabriella teased with a light blush as her body remembered the feeling of Troy's hands on her body.

"I don't care how, but I'm going to get us more alone time," Troy promised. "You're like a drug, I just can't get enough."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Just a huge thanks to all my reviewers so far for all your support and encouragement, I really do get beyond excited when I open my emails to reviews lol. Keep them up, a happy author is a writing author ;).**

"Where are you going, Troy?" Connor asked as he watched his older brother trying to coax his dark brown hair into a fauxhawk style in front of the tiny mirror.

"Nowhere," Troy replied honestly, hoping that it wouldn't lead to a follow on question.

"You're wearing a shirt to go nowhere?" Logan pressed, trying his best to copy his brother's hair style, but his dry hair was just falling back down into place as he tried.

"Wait, you're not coming rock-climbing?" Connor asked, his voice laced with disappointment as he saw his brother shake his head.

"Will you two leave your brother alone, please?" Jack interrupted his sons. "He's got a hot date tonight?"

"Dad!" Troy cried out.

"Sorry, son," Jack laughed. "But it's date right?"

"I guess," Troy shrugged. "If that's what she wants to see it as."

"Who are you having a date with, Troy?" Connor interrupted.

"I bet it's Gabriella!" Logan commented, making kissy faces at Troy. "Troy and Gabriella, sitting in a…."

Troy swung around to face his brothers, his expression one of annoyance and that sent the twins running outside laughing.

"Don't take your frustrations out on your brothers," Lucille scolded as she started searching for a sweatshirt to wear out. "All the ingredients you need for Gabriella's dinner are in the cupboards and the refrigerator, I took Maria shopping for them so you should have everything you need."

"And Troy, remember we're trusting you to be here alone with Gabriella," Jack started, ignoring the groan that came from Troy as he rolled his eyes. "We realise that you two have an attraction, but we don't want either of you to get into anything that you will regret."

"Dad, please!" Troy cried. "We don't need to have this conversation, I'm not going to just go and have sex with her… We're.. we're not talking about this, okay?"

"Troy, honey," Lucille started. "We're not trying to embarrass you, this is just something you really need to think about before you act on it."

"Did you two forget that this is our _first_ date, she isn't even my girlfriend yet!" Troy exclaimed.

"Yet," Jack repeated. "Just getting in before a mistake is made."

Troy didn't grace Jack with an answer, instead he disappeared into the tiny bathroom to brush his teeth, knowing Gabriella was expecting him in only a few minutes.

Meanwhile, in the Montez motorhome, Gabriella was wondering why her Mom had insisted she wear a dress when she was only going rock-climbing and to a movie with her family and the Bolton's.

"You look beautiful, pumpkin," Joseph smiled as he watched his daughter play nervously with her curls.

"I don't know why Mama told me to wear a dress," Gabriella complained.

"I'm sure she has her reasons," Joseph replied, trying not to let his smile falter as he thought of his daughter spending an unsupervised night with the boy she was quite obviously falling for.

"I hope so," Gabriella muttered, interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Can you get that, Gabriella?" Maria called from the small room that was Charlie and Will's bedroom where she was getting the youngest Montez ready to go out.

"Sure," Gabriella replied half-heartedly, tugging at her dress as she stood up and took the few steps to the door of the motorhome.

Troy smirked at the look of confusion that crossed Gabriella's face as her gaze settled on him, a bunch of white lilies in his hands.

"Hey, beautiful," he greeted.

"Troy… hey," Gabriella stammered, feeling more self conscious in the dress that showed off her perfect figure.

"Okay so I didn't really have this bit planned, but um, how would you like to spend the evening with me instead of going out with our families?" Troy managed to get out.

"Dad?" Gabriella asked, spinning around to face her parents, Joseph who was trying his hardest to smile, and Maria who couldn't stop smiling.

"Go on, pumpkin," Joseph nodded after a look from his wife, shooting Troy a serious look before he got up and walked to the bathroom.

"Send your parents over, Troy," Maria commented. "And have a good night you two."

Troy helped Gabriella step down from the motorhome, lacing his fingers with her own as he smiled down at her.

"Did you plan this?" Gabriella asked with disbelief and Troy nodded. "I thought my Mom was crazy for insisting I wear this new dress when we were just going out rock-climbing!"

"I asked her to make sure you looked nice," Troy grinned. "I mean, not that you don't always look nice, you look really pretty in anything, but I just thought that since this is our first date and all you'd want to be wearing something…"

Gabriella giggled at her nervous ramblings. "Troy?"

"Um yeah?" Troy asked, pausing outside the door to his family's motorhome.

"Is this a real official date, then?" She asked with a smile.

"That was kind of the plan, but only if you wanted it to be, I know this is all new for us and I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. Fuck, I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

"Troy! Language!" Lucille scolded as she, Jack and the twins came out of the motorhome, interrupting the pair's moment. "You look beautiful, sweetie."

Gabriella blushed at Lucille's comment, and the pinkness only spread as Troy pulled her gently into his side, his arm wrapping around her waist.

"Thank you, Lucille," she said softly. "Have a good night."

"You too," Lucille smiled. "Remember what we talked about, Troy."

"Bye!" Troy said quickly, stepping up into the motorhome before helping Gabriella inside and shutting the door on his family's retreating backs.

The teenagers eyes met, and it suddenly felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room, drawing them closer together until their lips met in a soft kiss.

"Mmmm, now that's a proper greeting," Troy whispered as they pulled away, his arms slinking around Gabriella's waist.

"Agreed," Gabriella whispered, letting Troy pull her back up to reach his lips once more, his tongue tentatively opening her lips and slipping inside her mouth, curling with her tongue in a heated dance.

"Be my girlfriend?" Troy panted as they broke apart, his eyes snapping open as he realised what he had said.

Gabriella felt like her heart was about to pound out of her chest at Troy's question and she was unable to get an answer out, instead nodding her head quickly in response, her face breaking into a huge grin.

"Seriously?" She ended up managing to get out, just as Troy's lips caught her own again, the force of his kiss making her take a few steps back until her back hit the counter.

"Serious," Troy muttered as he swiftly picked her up, placing her on the edge of the counter before he let Gabriella initiate the kiss, her tongue darting into his mouth, pleading to take control of the kiss.

When air became a problem the pair broke apart, breathing rapidly as their eyes met.

"So girlfriend," Troy grinned a few minutes later when he had caught his breath. "How about you show me how you make your Grandma's hamburgers?"

"Okay, boyfriend," Gabriella giggled, going to hop down off the counter but Troy had her still tightly encased on the counter. "Um Troy? You've got to let me down."

"Soon," Troy replied. "I'm just keeping myself from passing out over the fact that you said yes."

* * *

"Those were the best hamburgers in the world!" Troy exclaimed as he swallowed his last bite of dinner. "Can I order them again for tomorrow night?"

"So being your girlfriend means I become a short-order chef, does it?" Gabriella teased as she reached over the table to gather Troy's now empty plate.

"No, you just get to kiss me a lot," Troy grinned. "Hey, you're not cleaning up!"

"Come help me then," Gabriella grinned, sliding off from the bench chair and taking the few steps to the kitchen where she started to run the water, placing the plates and utensils in the sink.

Troy stood behind Gabriella, his front pressed against her back with his arms slipping around her waist and taking the sponge from Gabriella's hand, leaving her pinned between him and the bench as he quickly cleaned up the dishes from their dinner.

"So what else do you have planned?" Gabriella asked as Troy placed the last plate in the cupboard and his head dropped to rest on Gabriella's shoulder.

"Movie?" Troy asked, knowing he had some movies on his laptop that they could watch, but wanting to see if Gabriella had any other ideas for what they could do.

"Sounds good," Gabriella replied, managing to turn herself around in Troy's arms.

"Chick flick?" Troy asked politely, smiling as Gabriella screwed up her nose in response.

"Got any horrors?" Gabriella grinned.

"I have all the Saw movies," Troy replied, taking a step back from Gabriella and holding out his hand to her. "Have you seen them?"

"I haven't seen the last one."

"Come on then, that one's my favourite," Troy lead them to the ladder that lead up to his bed. "You don't mind sitting up here do you?"

"Fine with me," Gabriella smiled, crawling across Troy's bed and making herself comfortable against his pillows as he fetched his laptop before joining her.

"Sorry, it's a little slow to start up," Troy apologised, placing the laptop on the bed next to them before turning to face Gabriella.

"I can think of something we can do to pass the time," Gabriella replied, squealing as Troy quickly lifted her so that she was straddling his waist, their lips quickly connecting as hands started to explore.

Forgetting that they were only meant to be passing time waiting for the laptop to start up, the pair got lost in each other. The feel of lips bruising, tongues tangling and bodies pressing together soon had the room filled with the soft moans of Gabriella and the low grunts of Troy as their bodies reacted to the feelings that were being invoked.

"Mmm, Troy," Gabriella moaned as Troy's lips sucked on the sensitive skin on her neck, harsh enough to leave a bruise before he continued his journey down her neck until he was able to lap at the golden skin of her exposed chest which was right at his eye level due to their positioning. Instinctively Gabriella pushed her body down against Troy's, causing a delicious friction against Troy's hardening groin.

Realising how carried away they were getting Troy gently kissed his way back up to Gabriella's lips, placing a few soft kisses against them as he struggled to catch his breath and control his urges.

A few minutes later and the still breathless teens were snuggled up together, the laptop settled on Troy's lap and the movie starting to play.

"Are you gunna be scared?" Troy teased, and Gabriella scoffed.

"I don't get scared of movies," Gabriella insisted. "Just of real life things, like sharks and spiders."

"Cute," Troy whispered in Gabriella's ear as he pulled her closer to him, leaving no space between their bodies as their attention drifted to the movie.

True to her word, Gabriella hadn't gotten scared at all during the movie, but she still snuggled closely to Troy, through want rather than need. When the movie was finished, their parents still weren't home and the pair headed outside to sit and look at the beach view their camping spot offered, enjoying the peace and serenity while it lasted.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Okay so this chapter is where things get M rated, I won't be warning again, so read from this chapter onwards at your own risk. I take no responsibility for any corrupt minds that occur from the reading of this story. Special thanks goes out to Kait for letting me throw my ideas at her these past few days!  
**

Three days after his and Gabriella's date, Troy woke up to an unfamiliar pressure on the left side of his body. It startled him for a moment, until he realised that it wasn't just any regular weight, but a warm, soft weight. The weight of his sleeping girlfriend, cuddled tightly against his side.

Careful not to wake her, Troy shifted so that he could look at her, a smile crossing his face as he watched her eyes twitch as she dreamt, and he wondered what her dream was about.

Troy and Gabriella were the only two people in their families who weren't currently sick with food poisoning – after a dinner of bad seafood when Troy and Gabriella had gone out for pizza instead, neither of them being seafood fans – and as a result, they were getting to spend a lot of uninterrupted time together.

Racking his mind for a moment, Troy finally remembered why Gabriella was currently asleep in his bed, they had watched a movie the night before, after a day of roaming the small town of Waikaremoana. It had been raining heavily when the movie was finished, and so Troy told Gabriella to stay in his family's motorhome until the rain let up a bit. They had obviously fallen asleep before that had happened.

For a brief second, Troy wondered if anyone had noticed that Gabriella had slept over, but his thoughts were interrupted as Gabriella shifted in her sleep, the hand that had previously been resting on Troy's stomach shifted down to rest on Troy's crotch. The touch, though purely accidentally made Troy's regular morning erection harden even further, and embarrassed he shifted away from Gabriella a little, unintentionally waking her.

"Troy?" She asked, her tone full of confusion as her eyes opened to reveal her red faced boyfriend.

"Morning, Gabi," Troy said softly, shifting his legs around to try and hide the tent that was forming in his sweatpants. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay," Gabriella yawned, shuffling forward to cuddle into Troy again, noticing him swallow deeply at her touch. "Are you okay?"

"Um, yeah," Troy stammered, his eyes darting downwards, checking how obvious the tent was, and Gabriella's eyes followed his.

Troy wasn't expecting Gabriella's reaction and as she crashed her lips against his, he let out a gasp giving Gabriella the perfect chance to slip her tongue into his mouth, dominating the kiss.

It didn't take long before Troy gained the upper hand, and Gabriella let him take control of the kiss, allowing him to flip their bodies so that he was on top of her, their lower bodies pressing together as he deepened the kiss.

Gabriella was more than intrigued by Troy's bodily reactions. She had never been physical with a boy before, so although her love of learning meant she was well aware of the facts behind the reactions, she had never experienced them for herself before.

As Troy's left hand came down to roam under her t-shirt, Gabriella's own hand instinctively slipped under his t-shirt to skim over his defined stomach, one hand settling on Troy's hip, her fingers curling around his side and pushing his body a little bit away from her own, leaving enough space between them for her other hand to slide south.

A groan vibrated deep in Troy's throat as Gabriella's trembling hand came to rest over his erection which had hardened as their tongues duelled.

"Gabi," Troy panted as Gabriella's hand started to move gently against him. "Oh god."

Troy was a regular 17 year old male in that it didn't take much to get his blood flowing to a particular part of his body, and having his girlfriend's hand rubbing him through his pants while his parents were only a short distance away, and unaware that she was even there, more than done it for him.

Noticing Troy's hips moving in time with her movements, Gabriella realised how much she wanted to give him this release and so she moved her hand that was on his hip up to push gently on his shoulder, indicating she wanted him to lay back.

Willing to do anything Gabriella wanted, as long as she didn't stop what she was doing, Troy eased himself backward until he was laying flat on his back with Gabriella laying on her side next to him, tugging at the waist band of his sweatpants.

"Do you want this?" Gabriella whispered as Troy lifted his hips to help her tug the pants down, along with his boxers.

"Yes, oh god, yes," Troy groaned as he kicked off his pants and boxers before bringing Gabriella down to kiss her passionately. "Unless you don't want to do it."

Gabriella giggled softly at his added comment, loving how he could still manage to think of her feelings when his thoughts were so clouded.

"I want to," Gabriella confirmed, swallowing deeply as she looked at Troy's naked lower half for the first time, a soft gasp slipping from her mouth as she noticed his size and the obvious hardness of his member. "Does it hurt?"

As she spoke, Gabriella brought her hand down to gently clasp around the base and Troy's hips involuntarily thrust up at her touch.

"N..n..no," Troy stammered as Gabriella slowly pumped him.

"Am I doing it right?" Gabriella asked curiously, her eyes darting between Troy's face which was contorting with pleasure, and his erection, the sight of her hand moving over him arousing her more than she would've imagined.

Unable to get the words out to tell Gabriella what she needed to do, Troy instead placed his hand over Gabriella's much smaller one, tightening her grasp and speeding her movements up. Gabriella was amazed that Troy seemed to be getting even harder under her hand, she hadn't thought that was possible.

"Tell me if I hurt you," Gabriella said softly, though she could see the obvious pleasure on Troy's face she was still worried she was going to do something wrong and hurt him.

"Gabi," Troy choked out. "You're so… oh fuck… so far from… from hurting me right now."

Gabriella giggled at how hard it was for Troy to speak, deciding she must be doing something right to cause him to be reacting this way and she bent down to kiss him, realising he was becoming more and more vocal and she didn't want his parents to hear them.

"Use your thumb," Troy grunted softly. "On the tip."

Nodding, Gabriella brought up her free hand, using her thumb to spread the moisture that had gathered there, making sure she kept pumping Troy with her other hand.

"Like that?"

"Mmm, fuck. Like that," Troy confirmed, clenching his eyes shut as Gabriella worked him.

The teens were so wrapped up in their activity that they hadn't heard Jack call out, nor his footsteps on the ladder, but they heard his gasp of surprise as he stuck his head through the curtains that blocked Troy's bed off from the rest of the motorhome.

* * *

An hour later and Gabriella was back in her own motorhome, listening to Jack talking to her parents, explaining what he had found the teenagers doing.

Gabriella had quickly left the Bolton's when Jack suggested she do so - she was more embarrassed than she had ever been in her life and she couldn't wait to get out of there – sneaking back into her motorhome where her parents were still asleep and going up to her bed where she was currently hiding out.

"Are you sure that's what they were doing?" Maria asked in disbelief, she couldn't imagine her shy daughter doing such a thing.

"I saw them, Maria," Jack sighed. "Troy's being all defensive about it, but I think it would be best if we sat the two of them down and told them what the ground rules are."

"Troy can bring Logan and Connor over here and he and Gabriella can babysit while we decide on these rules," Joseph decided, still in shock about his baby girl growing up and doing such things with a boy.

"I'll go and tell Troy," Jack nodded, and Gabriella heard him leave the motorhome and she dreaded what she knew would come next.

"Gabriella, come down here, please," Maria called out, and Gabriella felt her heart leap into her throat.

Slowly she made her way down to her parents, not making eye contact with either of them.

"I take it you heard us talking to Jack?" Maria asked, knowing if Joseph got the chance to talk, he would probably use too harsh of words.

"Yeah," Gabriella mumbled. "Mama, listen.."

"Gabriella, I don't really want to hear why you were… doing that with Troy," Joseph interrupted. "I don't think we can let you see him anymore."

"Daddy!" Gabriella cried out at the same second that Maria spoke to her husband.

"Joseph, let's leave this until we've talked to Jack and Lucile," Maria scolded. "Gabriella do you want to take a shower before Troy and the boys get here?"

Gabriella quickly nodded, turning from her parents and heading back up to her bed to find some clean clothes, just wanting to get the next few hours over with.

After Gabriella had left, Jack had yelled at his son who had covered himself with some blankets, trying to get a word in edgeways to correct his Father's accusations, mainly about how he had purposely snuck Gabriella into his room the night before.

Once Lucile had managed to get Jack to leave their son alone, the pair had engaged in a heated argument as Troy lay in his bed with his pillow over his head, trying to block out the sound, guilt riddling him as he txt Gabriella to apologise for everything that had happened.

Now Troy was crossing the short distance to the Montez motorhome with his brothers, hurrying to get out of the rain Troy crashed right into Joseph who was stepping out of the motorhome.

"Sorry, Mr. Montez," Troy said quietly, sidestepping so that Joseph could pass him, which he did, but not before sending a death glare in Troy's direction.

Troy heard Maria scold Joseph as they hurried away, and Troy followed his brothers into the motorhome, wondering what the outcome of the parents' discussion was going to be, he had a feeling he wasn't going to be left alone with Gabriella for a very long time.

* * *

"I can't believe that five hours ago you were caught, in my bed, by my Dad, doing… well _that_" Troy exclaimed. "And now our parents have left us alone for the afternoon."

"I can't believe my Dad didn't kill you," Gabriella giggled.

"He's going to do it tonight while I'm asleep," Troy chuckled. "So you better make the most of me while I'm still here."

"_So we've agreed that as long as the two of you keep us in the loop with this… physical development, then we will do our best to treat you like the adults that you are showing us you can be," Lucile reasoned._

"_Keep you in the loop?" Troy questioned his Mom, having the most daunting images of having to tell Joseph every detail of his and Gabriella's sex life._

"_Tell us if things are progressing," Maria informed. "If you're going to start having sex."_

"_So we know you're being safe," Lucile added in, and Gabriella realised that so far her and Troy's Dad's were yet to speak, both just sitting looking like they wanted to hurt something, or someone._

"_Okay, we can do that, right, Gab?" Troy asked, squeezing his girlfriend's hand gently._

"_We can," Gabriella echoed quietly, amazed at how well the conversation was going so far. Her parents were actually going to let her still see Troy, and alone too!_

"_But the number one rule, no inappropriate actions where the younger kids could see you, walk in on you, hear you etcetera," Lucile warned. "That means no more sleeping over, okay?"_

"_Okay, Mom," Troy confirmed. "Though in our defence, we were waiting for the rain to let up before I walked Gabi back to her motorhome."_

"_We know, Troy," Jack spoke finally. "I'm sorry for telling at you earlier, son. I didn't let you talk."_

_Troy nodded his thanks at his Dad, noticing his Mom and Maria look over at Joseph to see if he had anything to say to the teenagers, but he simply looked down at his hands, avoiding everyone's gaze._

"One last afternoon, you say?" Gabriella questioned, rolling over so that her body was covering Troy's, his hands slipping down to grip her waist.

"One last afternoon," Troy repeated, his smile matching Gabriella's as their lips drew closer together. "What do you propose we spend this time doing?"

"I can think of something we didn't get to finish this morning," Gabriella whispered against Troy's lips, smirking as she felt his body respond to her words. "I think little Troy has the same thoughts as me."

"Little?" Troy growled as he rolled their bodies so he was on top. "I think you need to pay better attention, beautiful."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Huge thanks to Corii for helping me with the end of this chapter, and Kait for letting me bounce my ideas off of her and giving me her opinions!**

**Reviews make Troy do a sexy little hairflick ;)**

Joseph watched his oldest daughter and her boyfriend eating dinner with a displeased look on his face. It unnerved him how comfortable his little girl was as she blatantly flirted with Troy, it unnerved him about how comfortable his wife and Troy's parents seemed to be with the teen's developing relationships.

He wanted to be left alone with Troy for a few minutes, to have the chance to give him the old "hurt my daughter and I'll hurt you" speech, but Maria had made sure that he hadn't had the chance and pointed out how much Gabriella would despise him if he scared Troy off.

"Stop glaring at them, Joseph," Maria hissed quietly, but Gabriella still heard, turning around so she was facing her parents she rolled her eyes, signalling to them that she could hear them before she turned back to Troy, giggling at him as she stole another French fry off his plate.

"Do they have to sit like that," Gabriella heard her Dad mutter, and she looked down at Troy's arm wrapped around her waist as she sat between his outstretched legs. Deciding not to upset her Dad, Gabriella went to shift out of Troy's grasp, but he tightened his hold on her, shooting her a small pout.

"Stay," he mumbled, dropping his head so that his chin was on her shoulder, his breath tickling her neck. "Mmm you smell good."

"Troy," Gabriella breathed. "Behave," she scolded as Troy's fingers started to inch south, toying with the waistband of her sweatpants.

"Gabi, can you take us to the games room after dinner?" Will asked his older sister, looking over at Connor and Logan who joined in his pleas.

"Mama?" Gabriella asked, lacing her fingers with Troy's wandering ones as she turned to Maria to see if she wanted her to take the boys to the game room.

"Not tonight, sweetheart," Maria told Will. "We have to be up early in the morning if we want a full day at the snow so you can stay in the motorhome until it's bed time."

Will opened his mouth to complain, but Lucile cut him off.

"Connor and Logan will be having an early night too," she smiled. "After five hours of driving today you must all be needing a good sleep."

Silence set upon the group as everyone finished eating, and Troy whispered gently to Gabriella.

"Wanna come to the games room with me and watch a movie?"

Gabriella nodded, eager for some alone time with her boyfriend after being around her family for the whole day.

"Mama, can me and Troy watch a movie in the games room?" Gabriella asked sweetly.

"If it's okay with Lucile and Jack," Maria agreed. "And you don't stay there too late, you both need an early night as well."

Gabriella resisted the urge to roll her eyes, figuring she needed to be as polite as possible if she wanted to get a few hours alone with Troy.

"That's fine with us," Jack spoke for him and Lucile who nodded her agreement. "But like Maria said, don't stay out too late."

"And remember that there are other people who might be using that room too," Lucile warned. "I don't want anything to come back to us about what you two were up to."

The teens blushed at Lucile's warning, neither noticing Joseph's brow furrowing as he thought about what Lucile was inferring his daughter was going to get up to alone with her boyfriend.

"I'll just go and get changed," Gabriella said as she stood up from Troy's lap. "Do you want any help cleaning up from dinner, Mama?"

"No thank you, honey," Maria replied. "You and Troy go and start the movie so you can be back at a reasonable time."

Gabriella nodded, shooting Troy a smile before she disappeared into the motorhome. Troy too stood up, telling the adults he needed to find a sweatshirt and disappearing into the other motorhome.

"Do you think we should let them be alone?" Joseph asked quietly once the teens were out of earshot and the younger boys had been allowed fifteen minutes to play before they had to head inside and get ready for bed.

"We have to trust them," Maria replied. "I know you still think of Gabriella as your little girl, but she really is growing up, Joe."

"This time next year the pair of them will be finished high school," Jack pointed out. "They're not young kids anymore."

Joseph didn't answer, because at that moment Troy emerged, his jeans having been changed for a pair of black sweatpants which he wore with a dark grey hoody. He had an open backpack in his hands which held a few dvds and some snacks.

"Mom can we take a few cans of coke?" He asked Lucile, waiting for her approval before he darted back into the motorhome to fetch them, coming back out just as Gabriella came into view.

"Ready?" Troy asked his girlfriend, wondering how she managed to make baggy sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt look sexy.

"Remember what your Mother said," Jack called out to the teenagers as they walked away, Troy slinging the backpack of his shoulder so that he could take Gabriella's hand in his own, shooting her a smile.

* * *

Troy and Gabriella had been in luck as they entered the game room, with the people that were playing pool in the small room leaving only a few minutes later.

As soon as they left the pair, who had been deciding on a movie to watch, looked at each other, a familiar glint present in each other their eyes, alerting the other to the fact that they wanted the same thing from their current situation, exploration time.

"We better put on a movie, just in case," Gabriella suggested, causing Troy to raise an eyebrow.

"Are you suggesting that we're not going to watch a movie, Miss Montez?" Troy asked, wrapping his arm around Gabriella's waist and drawing her closer to his side. "Are you leading me astray?"

"So what if I am?" Gabriella teased, swinging a leg over Troy's legs so that she was straddling his lap. "Would you be complaining, Mr Bolton?"

The air in the room was getting heavier, and the chemistry behind the sultry looks, flirty touches and seductive comments were making the two teens begin to breathe harder, anticipating what each knew was a sure thing to happen.

Troy could only shake his head as his gaze dropped to his lap where Gabriella was moving gently against him – such small movements that Troy was uncertain if she was aware she was even moving – causing Troy to harden more with every passing second.

It wasn't until Gabriella closed her eyes as she started to press herself down harder on Troy, the movements speeding up the tiniest bit, that he realised she was doing it on purpose.

"What movie do you want to watch?" Troy asked as his hands came to rest on Gabriella's hips, pulling her down a fraction more against him.

"Anything," Gabriella replied breathlessly, wrapping her arms carefully around Troy's neck, the fingers of her good hand threading through the soft hairs that were there.

Letting go of one of Gabriella's hips, Troy picked up the first dvd his hand landed on.

"This one?" Troy half waved the dvd in Gabriella's attention, knowing she wasn't even going to look at it, she would just agree.

"Looks good," Gabriella nodded before she crashed her lips on Troy's, putting all the lust and chemistry that was flowing through her body into the kiss which Troy eagerly reciprocated.

It felt to Troy like the kiss had only just started when Gabriella pulled away, slipping off of his lap and sitting cross-legged on the couch next to him.

"Movie," she instructed simply, her eyes glistening playfully as she tilted her head towards the tv as Troy looked at her in disbelief.

"Gabi," he whined. "I was enjoying that."

Gabriella giggled at him, nudging him with her knee until he stood up, dvd in hand as he hurried over to the tv, putting the disc in the player and waiting impatiently for the menu screen to come up.

As he waited his eyes stayed focused on Gabriella, watching her as she licked her bottom lip slowly, nervously, and played with a few strands of hair that were framing her face.

"Gabi are you okay?" Troy asked gently, feeling the nervous energy that was coming from her.

Gabriella nodded that she was okay, but in all honesty she was beyond nervous. While Troy was under her, his lips on hers, his hands on her, she couldn't think of anything besides how good and right it all felt. But as soon as his presence was even slightly away from her, she started thinking about what he expected from her, in this rather public place.

As Troy tried to decide if Gabriella was telling the truth or not, the menu screen came up and he hit play before returning to sit on the couch, keeping a slight distance from her, feeling that something wasn't okay.

"Troy?" Gabriella asked softly, not meeting his gaze.

"What's wrong, baby?" Troy replied, unable to resist taking Gabriella's small hand in his own, squeezing gently.

"How many girls have you_ been _with?" Her voice emphasised the "been" and Troy chuckled gently.

"In the way you're insinuating, none," Troy replied honestly. "I've fooled around with a few girls when I've been drunk at parties, but I've never been with someone I've cared about. My friend Chad has this idea that I think girls have cooties or something, because I never date or anything."

"Really?" Gabriella asked in disbelief. She knew she couldn't be the only girl in the world to find him insanely attractive, and she had assumed that he was popular with the girls at East High, was a campus player or something of the like.

"Really. What about you, how many guys has a gorgeous girl like you caught?" Troy asked, feeling a pang of jealousy as he thought about another guy touching Gabriella.

"None," Gabriella shrugged. "I was always more interested in studying and photography than the boys at my school."

"Geek," Troy teased. "Do you want to watch the movie?"

Gabriella shook her head at Troy's offer, knowing that he would watch it with her if she wanted to, but she wanted to feel Troy's lips on her own again, even if she wasn't sure how much further than that she was willing to go with him that night.

"What do you want to," Troy started, being cut off as Gabriella put her index finger of her hand that wasn't holding Troy's against his lips, silencing him.

Leaning over Gabriella gently placed her lips against Troy's in a sweet, soft kiss. Being careful to not hit Troy in the head with her heavy cast, Gabriella moved her hand to rest on the back of his neck, pulling him down with her until she was laying flat on her back with Troy hovering over her.

"If you want to stop," Troy breathed in Gabriella's ear as he fought to catch his breath.

"I'll let you know," Gabriella responded with a smile, tilting her head a little as Troy's lips descended on her own again, his tongue teasing open her lips, darting inside momentarily but not long enough for Gabriella to catch it with her own.

Gabriella's soft mewl of frustration brought Troy back to a state of hardness and he tried to ease his lower body away from Gabriella, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable after her apprehension a little earlier, but Gabriella's hips rose up to try and make contact with Troy's groin, her hands moving to pull him back down to her, desperate to feel him close to her.

It didn't take long before hands started to roam, Gabriella's good hand slid under Troy's tops to run her fingers over the defined muscles in his back, slipping around to his front and skimming her fingertips down the middle of his stomach and over the bulge in his sweatpants.

Troy was eager to get his turn at exploring Gabriella, knowing she'd got a taste of him the other morning in the motorhome and so he moved slightly off of her, laying on his side next to her, his back against the back of the couch.

Slowly, as to give her time to stop him if she so wished, Troy pushed up her sweatshirt to her ribs, exposing to him her taut stomach.

Gabriella watched her boyfriend's blue eyes darken as they travelled over her golden skin, one of his hands settling low on her stomach which sent shivers through Gabriella's body.

"Tell me to stop," Troy whispered as he started to suck gently on the soft skin at the base of Gabriella's throat as his hand started to inch it's way upwards, the combination of Troy's mouth and hand making Gabriella moan gently, her hips instinctively raising off the couch ever so slightly, seeking friction.

"More?" Troy asked as his hand came to rest just below Gabriella's breasts.

"More," Gabriella pleaded, her voice throaty, her eyes begging Troy. "Please, Troy, please."

Troy pushed Gabriella's sweatshirt up further, expecting to be met with the material of her bra, but his eyes were instead rewarded with the delicious sight of Gabriella's bare breasts, heaving with her deep breaths.

"Fucking hell," Troy muttered as his eyes darted up to Gabriella's face, taking in the blush that covered her cheeks and the playful smile that danced on her mouth. "Gabi, shit."

"I just thought it would be easier," Gabriella mumbled, feeling nervous once again at Troy's intense stare. "I um, know they're not, mmmm."

Gabriella's sentence turned into a moan as Troy's thumb flicked across her pebbled nipple, his hand cupping the breast and squeezing the soft mound gently.

"Perfect," Troy muttered as he caught Gabriella's lips in a frenzied kiss, his hand moving to repeat the actions on her other breast as her own hands tried to pull him back down on top of her. Seeing her efforts were proving fruitless Gabriella skimmed her hands around to Troy's waistband, quickly slipping her good one inside and encasing his length in her small hand.

"Fuck," Troy grunted. "Gabriella, baby, uh, let me touch you."

Feeling bold, Gabriella took her free hand and guided Troy's hand down her bare torso to rest on the waistband on her own sweatpants.

"I'm not stopping you," she whispered.

Fighting back a groan, Troy began to tug down Gabriella's sweatpants, but Gabriella quickly pushed his hand away.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this," she mumbled, her hand still wrapped around Troy's erection as she spoke.

"Gabriella, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, we can stop," Troy reassured her.

"I want to, but that," Gabriella looked down at her pants. "If someone walks in and I… didn't have them on."

"They don't have to come off," Troy reasoned, realising Gabriella's fears were nothing to do with having him touching her. His hand moved back to her lower stomach, slipping under the sweatpants and brushing along her underwear, producing a moan from Gabriella.

"See?" Troy said softly as he started to rub her through the satin material. "Want me to stop?"

Gabriella shook her head furiously, making Troy chuckle quietly before he pushed aside the material of her underwear, his fingers finally making direct contact with Gabriella's wet sex, his long index finger slipping into her, making Gabriella cry out.

"Who knew the math geek had such a dirty mouth?" Troy teased as he gently rubbed Gabriella's stomach as he cuddled into her from behind after they had gained their breath back.

"And who knew the jock would meet someone who would make him beg for her touch," Gabriella teased right back.

"These fingers might be small," Troy whispered, lacing his fingers with Gabriella's. "But wow."

"Wow?" Gabriella giggled. "That's all you can say?"

"Would you rather I used some of the expletives that slipped from your pretty little mouth?"

Gabriella swung her arm back to hit into Troy's shoulder, a small pout forming as she twisted in his arms to face him.

"Do I see a pout that needs to be kissed better?" Troy whispered as he gently brushed his lips against Gabriella's swollen ones, feeling his heart skip a beat and reinforcing his constant thoughts that he was falling more and more for this beautiful girl.

* * *

"I hope you got a photo of Troy's faceplant, Gabriella," Logan laughed as the two families walked back through the camping grounds to their motorhomes after a long day out skiing, snowboarding and playing in the snow.

Troy looked down at his girlfriend, his face wincing at the pain in his shoulder.

"I didn't," Gabriella replied, smiling sweetly at Troy, and then when he turned back, Gabriella nodded her head at Logan and Connor, indicating she did too have some pictures of Troy falling off his snowboard.

"I saw that," Troy grumbled, unable to keep the smile off his face as Gabriella smiled up at him, batting her eyelashes.

"No you didn't," Gabriella argued. "I'll just go inside and get the first aid kit and clean your face up."

Troy shifted uncomfortably as he waited for his girlfriend to re-emerge, his clothing was cold and damp, his wet socks and gloves had made his hands and feet feel like they had spent hours immersed in ice cold water and he pulled his gloves off, tossing them to the ground as Gabriella came into view.

Gabriella lead Troy over to a chair, indicating he should sit, which he did, and she straddled him, the first aid box sitting between their stomachs as the pair enjoyed a few seconds of alone time just to watch each other, neither able to stop the smiles that formed at the sight of the other one.

"It looks sore," Gabriella frowned finally, turning Troy's head a little bit to examine the scratches that went down his face and neck, the area bright red from impact.

"Not really," Troy shrugged just as Gabriella put some antiseptic ointment on some of the cuts. "Ouch!"

"Sorry," Gabriella giggled. "What were you doing anyway, show off?"

Troy took the distraction, sucking air in between his clenched teeth as Gabriella continued to clean his cuts.

"I wasn't showing off," Troy argued. "I was just doing a simple nose and tail roll, and then there was a stupid man in my way and I…"

"Fell over?" Gabriella offered, patting Troy's skin dry with a dry face cloth. "There all cleaned up."

"You're being mean," Troy pouted, moving his hands to rest on Gabriella's hips, the wet material not feeling the slightest bit cold to his numb hands. "You owe me a kiss."

"Do I now?" Gabriella asked. "Where does it say that?"

"Page 67 of the girlfriend manual," Troy supplied.

"The girlfriend manual? Well I can't argue with that," Gabriella leant forward, meeting Troy's lips halfway in a gentle kiss that didn't take long to become heated.

"Gabriella? Can I see the photos you took of my son falling on his face?" Jack called out from the Bolton motorhome and Troy groaned.

"Baby, no."

But Gabriella leapt to her feet, running away from Troy and to the motorhomes as he got up and chased after her, her squeals of laughter as he caught up to her and lifted her up in his arms filled his ears and made his heart race. Troy spun her around to face him, her chocolate coloured eyes sparkling, her cheeks flushed as she reached up to kiss him quickly unable to resist temptation, taking advantage of Troy being stunned for a second she raced back to the motorhomes.

Yes, he was definitely falling for this girl, and he was almost positive that she was falling just as hard for him.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Huge thanks to Stacey for telling me that I shouldn't delete the whole thing and start again, you have her to thank for this chapter being posted tonight. It's a filler chapter, but it needed to be written so I can move on with the story! Hope you all enjoy it and the next chapter will be out within a week because I'm on break from uni right now! As always, reviews = love!**

Gabriella giggled to herself as she heard the soft snores escaping from the pile of blankets her boyfriend was buried under. It was 6am on the last full day they would be at the Tongariro Holiday Park, tomorrow they were going on a 4 and a half hour journey to a small town called Carterton for a few days of rest and relaxation before they hit New Zealand's capital, Wellington.

Pulling the blanket slightly away from Troy in a bid to wake him up, Gabriella felt her heart flutter at the sight of his hair all messed up, the adorable smile playing on his lips as he dreamt and his bare torso now exposed to her hungry eyes. Unable to help herself, Gabriella reached out to draw her small finger down the side of his face, along his jaw line before her thumb danced across his slightly parted lips.

Troy stirred in his sleep, rolling towards Gabriella, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in her cotton covered hip.

"Mmm," he breathed, his grip tightening around Gabriella's slim waist as he woke up properly. "This is a good morning already."

Gabriella's soft giggles filled his ears as her hand rubbed his bare shoulder. "I thought you might wanna come for a run with me?"

"A run? I'm asleep, Gabi," Troy whined.

"You don't look asleep," Gabriella reasoned, reaching down to run her good hand through Troy's messed up strands of hair.

"I am," Troy argued. "Fast asleep."

Gabriella pouted. "I guess I'll go and hang out with my family then, if you don't wanna come for a run."

Troy moved himself away from Gabriella slightly. "Why can't you go for a run?"

"My Mom said I couldn't go alone," Gabriella sighed.

"Cause it's a strange place and you might get attacked by a herd of sheep?" Troy joked.

"A flock of sheep, Troy," Gabriella corrected. "And not because it's a strange place, but because it's still kinda dark out…."

"Dark?" Troy cried out. "What time is it?"

"Um a little after 6…" Gabriella trailed off.

"Six? In the morning? I don't know if we can date if you're going to be waking me up at this time. I don't look this good because I'm up early every morning." Troy joked.

"You're a liar. You told me that you go for a run in the mornings before school!" Gabriella argued, pouting a little.

"Gabi, don't pout. I can't say no when you're doing that," Troy whined and Gabriella pouted more. "Gabi, that's unfair!"

"Please, Troy," Gabriella whispered, leaning down until her lips were hovering over Troy's.

Troy struggled to reach his lips up to Gabriella's own as she moved further and further away from him. "Fine! Kiss me and we'll go for a run."

He felt a chaste kiss upon his lips before he was hit with clothing, namely his shorts and a t-shirt that he could run in.

"That barely counts as a kiss, Gabi," Troy complained, trying to pull her back to me, but Gabriella was quicker than him, moving across his bed before scrambling down the ladder and out of the motorhome, leaving Troy to get changed.

As Troy crawled out of bed his thoughts travelled to the interchange that just happened between him and Gabriella, it made a smile break out across his face as he realised how comfortable they were with each other already, how natural their relationship seemed to come. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realise he had put his t-shirt on inside out and backwards and he quickly left the motorhome where his brothers were still sleeping.

"Troy, honey?" Lucille's voice came softly as a round of laughter came from Jack and Joseph. "Your shirt is on the wrong way."

Troy jolted out of his thoughts, looking firstly down at his t-shirt and then up at his girlfriend who was struggling not to laugh. Shaking his head at how wrapped up in his thoughts he was to have failed at dressing himself, Troy shrugged off the t-shirt, his eyes connected with Gabriella's as he turned the garment in the right way, his muscles moving hypnotically as he did so.

Feeling herself starting to blush as she thought about Troy's naked body hovering over her, Gabriella knelt down, pretending to tie up her shoe as she waited for Troy to put his t-shirt back on.

Troy smirked as he noticed what Gabriella was doing, resisting the urge to throw himself at her and kiss her senseless. When his t-shirt was back on properly this time, Jack reminded the teens that they were all going to Tongariro National Park at 8.30am and so they needed to be ready to leave at that time in order for the families to get a full day at the National Park.

Waving goodbye to their parents the two teens took off at a brisk jog, warming their muscles up in the early morning air.

"You think we'll get some time alone today?" Troy asked as they jogged out of the holiday park, turning right as they picked up speed.

"You want to get alone time in a National Park?" Gabriella questioned suspiciously.

"Not like that, Gabi," Troy rolled his eyes. "And people say men have a one track mind!"

Gabriella's cheeks turned bright red and she started to run faster, making Troy work had to catch back up with her.

"Did I embarrass you by calling you on your dirty thoughts, Miss Montez?" Troy teased as he finally came to run alongside her, impressed with her speed and stamina when it came to running.

"I should've left you asleep," Gabriella grumbled.

* * *

That afternoon, Troy was stretched out on the cool graze soaking up the last of the sun's warm rays. Gabriella was curled into his side, her shallow, even breathing informing Troy that she was still asleep, tired after their long day.

Noticing that the sun was setting and it was about to get very cold, Troy pressed a chaste kiss to Gabriella's lips, nudging her nose with his as he attempted to rouse her from her nap.

The rest of their families were inside the motorhomes, the boys and Charlie napping before dinner and their parents resting, their not so young bodies wary from the bushwalks they had gone on that day, leaving the teenagers to spend some alone time together, though Gabriella had quickly fallen asleep.

"Gabi," Troy whispered, kissing Gabriella once more, his lips pressing against her own a little harder than the last time.

This did the trick, Gabriella's eyelashes fluttered against her golden cheeks before separating to reveal her sleepy, chocolate eyes.

"Hey," Troy murmured, brushing the curls from Gabriella's face as her eyes focused on what had woken her.

"Hey," she yawned stretching her body out before wrapping her arms around Troy's neck and bringing his lips down against her own once more. "You interrupted a good dream."

"Sorry," Troy whispered against Gabriella's lips. "But isn't this better?"

"Mmmm," Gabriella managed to get out as Troy's tongue gently parted her lips and tentatively wrapped around her own tongue. All thoughts of the fact that they were laying out in the open for anyone to see them slipped from the teen's minds as the kiss grew in passion, their bodies pressing together tightly.

Troy's hands held Gabriella's face as he rested on his forearms, his weight resting mostly on Gabriella's body, feeling her chest heaving with her heavy breathing and her hips moving ever so slightly against his groin/ Gabriella's fingers slid from their spot on Troy's neck to move down his back, resting just above the waistband of his pants.

Neither teen heard the door to the Montez motorhome open, but the angry shout of Joseph Montez made their movements still, their eyes shooting open and Gabriella's shocked browns met with Troy's anxious blues.

"Crap," Troy muttered, lifting his body away from Gabriella's as the pair turned to face Joseph.

This wasn't going to end well.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: *holds hands up in a peace offering* I know it's been almost 3 months since I last updated, but I have been despising writing thanks to something crazy like 9 uni assignments due over 11 days. I didn't want to bother writing something that my heart wasn't in, and so I'm sorry for the long delay, but I've loved writing this chapter, even though it was not what I set out to write, who am I to argue with my muse though? **

**Another thing, and I'm sure this goes for the other authors out there as well, but sending reviews or PMs pointing out that I haven't updated in quite some time isn't really going to get you an update any quicker, because I do have this little thing called real life, and as much as I'd love to be paid to write Troyella smut and fluff, I don't and that means I need to have a job, and I have to go to university so I can have a career. But thank you a ton to those that sent me PMs checking that I hadn't fallen off the face of the earth or combusted into a pile of dust, this chapter is for you guys :)**

**While some of you might want to go back and read the last chapter, I've posted the end of it below, just to refresh those memories! Read, enjoy and review :)**

_"Mmmm," Gabriella managed to get out as Troy's tongue gently parted her lips and tentatively wrapped around her own tongue. All thoughts of the fact that they were laying out in the open for anyone to see them slipped from the teen's minds as the kiss grew in passion, their bodies pressing together tightly._

_Troy's hands held Gabriella's face as he rested on his forearms, his weight resting mostly on Gabriella's body, feeling her chest heaving with her heavy breathing and her hips moving ever so slightly against his groin. Gabriella's fingers slid from their spot on Troy's neck to move down his back, resting just above the waistband of his pants._

_Neither teen heard the door to the Montez motorhome open, but the angry shout of Joseph Montez made their movements still, their eyes shooting open and Gabriella's shocked browns met with Troy's anxious blues._

_"Crap," Troy muttered, lifting his body away from Gabriella's as the pair turned to face Joseph._

_This wasn't going to end well._

* * *

Growling with frustration Gabriella reached her hands behind her head, gathering together her curls which were falling into her face as she attempted to read. Using the hairtie that was around her wrist she pulled the unruly hair into a low ponytail before picking her book back up, knowing that it wasn't actually her dark curls that were preventing her from getting lost in one of her favourite books of all time, but more so the fact that her Dad was being stubborn and unfair.

It was 2 days since Joseph had caught Troy and Gabriella and the two families were now in Carterton, a small city just over an hour away from New Zealand's capital city, Wellington. Gabriella had stayed behind when everyone else had ventured off to explore the shopping areas after realising over the last few days that her Dad wasn't going to let up on his keeping Gabriella and Troy apart.

As Gabriella reread the same line for what seemed like the millionth time, she remembered that her Mum had slipped her cell phone to her as they were leaving, winking at her daughter and shooting her an apologetic smile as she ushered the rest of the family out of the motorhome. Hoping that Troy was near his phone, Gabriella quickly typed out a quick message to him, hitting send and then staring impatiently at the phone, waiting for a message to come back.

After less than a minute Gabriella remembered a saying her Grandmother always used to say "a watched pot never boils" and so she decided to go and use the bathroom while she waited to see if Troy was going to txt her back. Just as she got to the bottom of the ladder leading to her bedroom, her phone beeped, signalling a txt message and Gabriella scrambled back up the ladder, snatching her phone up and opening the txt, a smile spreading across her face for the first time since the night before.

_Hey pretty girl._

Gabriella felt her heart leap into her throat as she read the words over several times before she started to type a reply, the smile on her face not wiping off as she had her first contact with her boyfriend in what felt like a long time.

_Is my Dad around? How's shopping?_

This time Gabriella slipped her phone into the pocket of her sweatshirt before she headed to the bathroom, the pressure on her bladder too pressing to be forgotten about any longer. Just as she was coming out of the tiny room and heading to the fridge to get a bottle of water her phone beeped again and Gabriella almost dropped her phone in the rush to get it out of her pocket.

_He's off with my Dad, I think. I'm with the twins and Will at a park. Can I call you?_

Wasting no time, Gabriella sent back a confirming txt, holding her phone in her hand like it was a lifeline. It wasn't more than a minute of waiting before her ring tone sounded and she quickly pushed the talk button before pushing her phone up to her ear so fast that she hurt herself a little.

"Troy!" Gabriella greeted after muttering 'ouch' to herself.

"Ouch? What did you do to yourself, gorgeous?" Troy smiled pushing his phone closer to his ear as if that would somehow make him closer to his girlfriend.

"Moved my phone too fast, I'm okay," Gabriella replied her voice wavering slight as she sat down on the hard floor of the motorhome and transferred her phone to her bad hand so she could wrap her good arm around her legs, bringing her knees to her chin.

"You don't sound okay," Troy argued, noticing the sadness in her voice.

"I'm just being pathetic," Gabriella mumbled. "I miss you."

"Gabriella Montez, you realise you just called your own boyfriend pathetic? Because he misses you too," Troy tried to make a joke, hating hearing her sad tone and being unable to do anything about it.

"Sorry," Gabriella whispered hoarsely, tears welling up in her eyes at Troy calling himself her boyfriend. "My Dad is such an ass."

"Don't cry, baby," Troy crooned, looking up to quickly check on his three charges before he turned his attention back to Gabriella. "And as much as I disagree with what your Dad is doing, he's just shocked his daughter is growing up."

Though she knew Troy couldn't see her, Gabriella nodded her head in agreement. "Has he said anything to you?"

"My Dad basically dragged him off for 'guy stuff' as soon as we got to the shops, I'm pretty sure Dad is going to try and talk him around, get him to see that he's overreacting," Troy explained his hopes returning.

"My Mom;s been trying that since that night," Gabriella sighed, letting her head fall back to rest against the cupboard door behind her.

"Let's hope that coming from another Dad it works," Troy replied. "It's been horribly cruel seeing you at breakfast and lunch and dinner and not being able to hug or touch you."

"My Dad gets mad at you for even _looking_ at me," Gabriella sighed. "This sucks, Troy."

"I know it does, Gabi," Troy said sadly. "But someone is going to make him realize that he's wrong in his thinking, even if it has to be me."

"Okay, Troy. You do know that he'll break you into a million pieces if you tried to tell him that you think he should let us see each other again, right?" Gabriella giggled, picturing her boyfriend stammering at her Dad. "Though you'd be pretty cute and nervous if you were talking to him."

"I wouldn't be nervous," Troy argued. "Nor am I cute, but I would risk being broken into a million pieces for you."

"You wouldn't be much use to me if you were shattered on the ground," Gabriella responded, the heavy sadness that had plagued her lifting as she talked to Troy and he tried to make everything better.

"I completely agree with you, so no getting broken into a million pieces, but I do have to go now, baby, I have to meet our parents now, but we'll be home soon, okay?" Troy hated to end the conversation now that he'd managed to cheer both Gabriella and himself up, but he didn't want Joseph to know that he and Gabriella had been talking.

"Okay," Gabriella replied her emotions switching between sad that the conversation was ending, and happy that she would be seeing Troy soon, if her Dad would let her. "I'll see you soon?"

"I hope so baby, bye," Troy ended the conversation, calling out to his brothers and Will that they needed to start walking back to the shops now to meet their parents, the only thoughts going through his head were hopes that his Dad had managed to convince Joseph to let Troy and Gabriella be together again, but Troy wasn't going to hold his breath on it.

* * *

"Gabriella, dinner is ready, sweetheart," Maria called up to her daughter, knowing that she was going to request to eat alone in her room after the latest run in with Joseph.

"Mama, can I just eat in here, please?" Gabriella asked softly. "Besides, I'm not very hungry."

"I'll bring it up to you," Maria sighed, knowing there was no point in trying to convince the teenager to come down.

Up in her makeshift bedroom, Gabriella wiped the sleeve of her sweatshirt roughly against her eyes, making sure that the tears, both fresh and dry, were gone, though she knew that her eyes themselves were bloodshot no matter what she did.

After the Bolton and Montez families had arrived back at the camp site, Gabriella had rushed out of the motorhome, excited to see Troy, but instead she was met by her Father who had ordered Gabriella to get back inside. When his daughter had resisted, Joseph had yelled at her before Maria ushered both her daughter and husband inside, away from the watchful eyes of their vacation buddy-family. Maria had laid into her husband, scolding him like a small child who had just misbehaved at the mall, and she was so wrapped up in Joseph she hadn't noticed a tearful Gabriella fleeing up to her bedroom.

Both of Gabriella's parents assumed that Gabriella was upset purely about not getting to see Troy still, something Maria was working on, but Gabriella hated to see her parents fight, especially when she was the cause of it. She knew that her parents didn't have the perfect relationship, Joseph got too focused on his job sometimes, and Maria wasn't the most responsible with money, but Gabriella knew they didn't fight often, which made her feel even more guilty about being the subject of their new tension.

Gabriella was also upset that her Dad was still forbidding her to see Troy. She had hoped that Jack would knock some sense into his long-time friend, to tell him that the pair were just normal teenagers, and that keeping them apart was going to do more harm than good, but it seemed Jack had just made Joseph more intent on keeping the couple apart.

"She doesn't want to come down, Joe," Maria's voice came through the motorhome and Gabriella sat as still as possible, listening out for her parent's conversation.

"She can't stay up there forever," Joseph snapped, he was beyond annoyed that nobody could see that he was trying to be a good Father by protecting his little girl.

"And you can't keep her and Troy apart forever either," Maria retorted, pushing past her husband and leaving the motorhome to get her daughter a plate of food for dinner.

Joseph sighed, rubbing his large hand across the back of his neck as he moved to stand at the bottom of the ladder leading to his oldest daughter's bedroom, even though he knew she would hear him no matter where he stood in the small space.

"Gabriella?" He called out.

No response.

"Gabi?"

No response.

"Pumpkin?"

No response.

With another sigh, Joseph left the motorhome, his heart breaking as he realised just how mad his baby girl was with him, and for the first time he wondered if he was being too harsh on the young couple.

"_After all_," he thought. _"Aren't you only young once?"_


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I know, I know, I'm a terrible writer and it's been six months since this story was updated, but I just lost my interest and I didn't want to write something I wasn't happy with. But I found motivation to write this chapter because one of my friends is leaving for Camp America tomorrow, and so this chapter is written for her, with our very own cameo that we've been planning since she started helping me write this story many, many chapters ago ;). Have an awesome trip, Stace! I'm gunna miss you, but I'll forgive you if you can smuggle me back a certain blue eyed boy!**

"So I was thinking," Joseph said to Maria as they washed the dishes at the small sink.

"How you're going to make your daughter hate you some more?" Maria asked with a sigh. "Because honestly, you're doing a mighty fine job as it is."

"I was thinking," Joseph repeated in a louder voice, forgetting that Gabriella was still up in her room and could hear everything that he said. "I have been too harsh on Gabi and Troy. I forget that Gabi is growing up."

"You were thinking that you've been too harsh? I know you've been too harsh, Joseph." Maria snapped. "You can't just stop and change your mind like this, it's not fair to anyone, least of all our daughter who is having her heart crushed every time you decide to get all overprotective."

"I know that, Maria," Joseph hissed back. "She's just been my little girl for so long, and now she's making out with some boy and doing god knows what."

"Troy is not some boy, Daddy," Came Gabriella's voice, having decided to interrupt her parents as she couldn't stand to hear them arguing about her. "I know you just want to protect me, but you taught me to make my own decisions, and you know I've always made good ones."

"So far," Joseph muttered, but Maria and Gabriella both heard him and he quickly kept on talking. "It's easy to make a decision in the heat of the moment and then regret it later when you've had time to think about it."

"I'm not going to have any regrets," Gabriella seethed, and neither of her parents could remember the last time they had seen their daughter this worked up. "My only regret will be not getting to spend time with Troy, because I've listened to you."

"Gabriella," Joseph started, but the teenager turned back to face her Father, her dark eyes burning with anger.

"No, Daddy, you're not listening to me at all," Gabriella cried, tears welling in her eyes. "I'm not a little kid anymore, and whether you like it or not, I'm growing up and I'm going to fall in love, I'm going to get married and I'm going to have sex!"

Gabriella stormed off, out of the motorhome, slamming the door behind her, making both her parents wince at the sound. Maria stopped Joseph from going after their daughter, following after her instead, knowing the teenager needed some time away from her protective father.

When she got outside of the motorhome, Maria saw Gabriella running off across the darkening campgrounds, with the entire Bolton family, and Will watching her, unsure if they should follow.

"Can I?" Troy asked Maria, gesturing towards Gabriella's disappearing figure. "I'll bring her back right away."

"Go and talk to her Troy," Maria said with a gentle smile. "Take your time."

Troy smiled back at his girlfriend's Mom, taking off after Gabriella and catching up to her easily. As she heard Troy approaching her, Gabriella turned to see who was following her, expecting to see one of her parents, so she was more than surprised to see Troy gaining on her.

"My Dad will kill you," Gabriella mumbled, feeling for the first time the hot, angry tears that were spilling onto her cheeks.

"It'd be worth it to make sure you're okay," Troy replied softly, reaching out for Gabriella's hand to stop her from continuing her movements away from the families' motorhomes. "Your Mom sent me after you anyways."

"My Dad thinks I'm going to regret this," Gabriella whispered.

"Regret what? This trip?" Troy asked confusion laced through his voice.

"Regret us," Gabriella confessed. "He thinks we're going to end up pregnant and I'm going to regret wanting to spend time with you."

"Do you think that?"

Gabriella shook her head quickly. "Not at all, I regret that my Dad is ruining this all for us though."

Troy had nothing more to add to the conversation, for he knew that he and Gabriella were both feeling the same way about the beginning of their relationship causing such issues amongst their parents, so he simply wrapped his arms around Gabriella and drew her to his chest.

After a long time of simply enjoying the presence of the other one, Troy nudged Gabriella's head with his lips, drawing her out of her content lull in his arms.

"We should get back, it's getting absolutely freezing cold out here," Troy said, his words and actions not matching as he tightened his grip on his girlfriend.

"I'd rather be cold than have to talk to my Father," Gabriella groaned seriously.

"Maybe someone has talked to him since we've been gone?" Troy asked hopefully, changing positions so he and Gabriella were standing side by side, his arm looped around her waist still, but allowing them to slowly start walking back to the campsite.

"Maybe someone gave him a personality transplant and my old, trusting Dad will be there."

"He's probably hoping his old, non-hormone driven daughter will be arriving back," Troy teased, determined to have her in a good mood before they got back to their parents. "But I'm sure as hell not hoping that."

"You are impossible, Troy Bolton," Gabriella rolled her eyes, snuggling into Troy's side as their motorhomes came into view and they saw four figures sitting outside, obviously waiting for their return.

"But you're still falling for me like crazy," Troy grinned as he loosened his grip on Gabriella waist, giving her hip one last squeeze before he dropped his arm back to his own side.

Gabriella didn't see the need to tell Troy he was right, she knew that by her fighting to see him, she was showing him in the most obvious way just how much she was falling for him, and from his returning fight, she knew he was falling the same.

"Hey kids," Jack greeted the pair with a smile. "We were just about to send some Siberian Huskies out to find you, since it's getting so cold out."

"You could've waited inside, Dad," Troy replied with a shake of his head at his Dad's attempt at lightening the situation.

"Well we could've, but we wanted to talk to you two first," Maria interrupted. "We're all aware that the two of you are almost adults, and we haven't really been treating you like that since you two became an item."

Gabriella was grateful that her Mom was making it seem like all four adults had been acting the same way, rather than placing the blame on Joseph, because Gabriella knew that if there was one way to get her Dad's back up, it was to place the blame on him.

"So we're going to do our best to treat you two like the adults you're growing to be," Lucille added in, smiling at her son and his girlfriend.

"We all are, right Joe?" Jack asked his long-time friend, with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Troy, do you want to come out with us tomorrow?" Joseph asked, looking like a little kid who was thanking his great-grandma for the horrible gift.

"He's going to kill me and bury me deep in the bushes," Troy mumbled to Gabriella as they followed Joseph and Maria through the bushwalk the foursome were going on during their "bonding time", they were almost halfway through the hour long walk, and the weather was steadily getting worse, despite Maria's protests that there wasn't meant to be rain until later that afternoon.

Gabriella giggled, squeezing Troy's hand in her own as Maria turned around to shoot the teens a grin, her own hand gripping her husband's to reassure him.

"Isn't this place beautiful?" Maria called back to the teens, looking up into the canopy of trees above them that blocked out the grey sky.

"It is, Mama," Gabriella agreed. "You can hardly tell that it looks like it's going to pour with rain any minute."

"Gabriella," Joseph warned, and Maria shot her husband a look that told him to be quiet, or else.

"Thanks for inviting me," Troy piped up, helping Gabriella to climb over a tree that had fallen in their path. "This beats sitting around at the motorhome with my brothers."

"You're welcome, sweetheart," Maria replied, looking back up towards the sky as she thought she felt raindrops falling on her head.

"Is it raining?" Gabriella asked a few minutes later, having felt for sure a few big raindrops hitting onto her face.

"It's just showers," Maria commented, fastening her pace as she realised that it was going to pour with rain at anytime.

"Should we turn around?" Gabriella asked out loud, looking at her watch to see how long had passed since they had left, knowing the walk was roughly an hour long. "Actually we're about halfway through so I guess we should just keep going? It loops around to where we started, right?"

Just as Maria went to answer, a loud clap of thunder sounded around them, rolling around the hills and making all four of them jump.

"Shit," Troy swore as Gabriella leapt at him, digging her nails into his hand, Maria and Joseph didn't hear the cuss word from the teenage boy's lips because Maria seemed to be as scared as Gabriella was and was clinging to Joseph, who was trying to calm her down.

Because of the dense bush area they were in, the lightning that was leading the thunder couldn't be seen, and Troy was inwardly freaking out about getting struck by lightning, though he was trying not to think of it so that he could calm Gabriella down.

"Baby, it's okay," he cooed in Gabriella's ear, trying to unclench her small fingers from around his hand with no success. He looked over at Gabriella's parents, seeing Joseph and Maria standing in a similar position to him, though Joseph was looking over at the teenagers as he calmed down his wife. Troy thought for a second of moving away from Gabriella, as he and Joseph locked eyes, but Troy decided that calming a growing hysterical Gabriella down was more important than trying to please Joseph.

As Joseph watched Troy hugging Gabriella, he felt anger build up inside of him for a few seconds as he saw how tightly his little girl was clinging onto her boyfriend, their embrace so tight it was impossible to see any space between their bodies. But as he watched longer and saw how much Gabriella trusted whatever Troy was saying to calm her down, Joseph wondered, not for the first time, if Troy was the perfect guy to take over caring for his little girl, who – as much as he hated to deny it – was no longer his little girl.

The foursome had arrived back at the motorhome just as the storm was ending, though they managed to catch the last few strikes of lightning, lighting up the sky as the thunder boomed around the hills, and though Gabriella and Maria still clung tightly to their men, they were all able to admire how beautiful the area looked in the storm.

When they got back to the campsite, Joseph had surprised everyone by asking Logan and Connor if they wanted to ride in the Montez motorhome for the 2 hour drive from Carterton to Wellington, saying that he was sure Gabriella and Troy would like to travel together.

Which was why Gabriella and Troy were currently joined in a passionate lip-lock in the back of the Bolton motorhome, both only vaguely aware of Troy's parents being a short distance away from them as they got caught up in the moment.

Troy let out a low groan as Gabriella's hand danced across his lap, applying pressure where he needed it the most before she quickly made work of his zip and worked her hand into the small space inside Troy's jeans.

"Troy, shhh," she whispered as she encased him in her tiny hand, slipping him out the fly of his pants and tightening her grip on his hardening erection. "You gotta be quiet, okay?"

All Troy could manage to do was nod his head as Gabriella's hand started working over him, his eyes rolling back into his head as he tried to focus on the movements and the pure look of joy and satisfaction on her face as she watched the pleasure wash over his face.

Troy was a typical teenage boy, and even though he had a very hot girlfriend – or maybe because he had a very hot girlfriend – he regularly took care of his needs, sometimes a few times a day, but nothing he did compared to the sight of Gabriella's hand moving up and down his member, her thumb brushing across the tip at random intervals, making him shiver in pleasure.

"I'm not going to last," he choked out after only a few minutes, his hips pressing up into Gabriella's hand subconsciously trying to reach his peak. "Oh fuck, baby."

Deciding quickly on how she was going to stop this act from turning messy, she pushed Troy across his seat slightly, moving back as far as she could before she ducked her head down and slipping her lips around Troy, her hand still working over what part of him didn't fit into her mouth.

"Fuck, oh god," Troy whimpered as he was engulfed by the warmth of his girlfriend's mouth, his hand going straight to the pulled back curls of her hair and tangling his fingers through the silky locks, his hips bucking up as she drew him in, in one last, long, slow movement that sent him spinning over the edge, out of control.

Despite his rapid breathing and his thumping heart, Troy caught Gabriella's lips in a zealous kiss as he quickly slipped himself back inside his pants and zipped them up before he plunged his hands back in Gabriella's curls, pulling her upper body flush against his own and happily replaying the favour.

Unsurprisingly, the drive passed fast for the two teenagers, and in no time at all they were pulling into their next temporary home, a holiday park located right near the city of Wellington. It was only 9am, the families having left early to ensure they would get a full day at the Wellington Zoo, an activity that for once appealed to everyone.

Once the motorhomes were parked up, the group went across the road to a bus stop, waiting for the bus that would take them into the city and right to the zoo, saving them the trouble of trying to find connecting buses. A helpful man at the holiday park had told them what number they needed to catch and after only a few minutes of waiting a dark purple bus had pulled up and the group were setting off on their next adventure.

When they arrived at the zoo, the group split up, Troy and Gabriella, enjoying their newfound freedom together, hung around the start of the zoo, watching the busy otters diving in and out of the water, swimming under the bridge and Gabriella excitedly ran from one side to the other to watch the particularly cheeky male otter.

When Troy began to grow bored he tugged Gabriella to the small rainforest walk where the different monkeys lived, and the pair were stunned to see tiny cotton top tamarind monkeys running above their heads in the branches.

"They're so cute!" Gabriella squealed and Troy had to agree with her, the mischievous looking little creatures stopped to look at the people below them before scurrying back off to hide amongst the branches.

Next the pair were faced with the nocturnal house, where the native animals the kiwi and tuatara were housed. They entered the small, dark room, and Gabriella immediately grabbed onto Troy's hand as they wandered over to the closest display, seeing that this was where the brown kiwi lived, and after almost five minutes of searching, the pair were blessed with seeing the flurry of feathers dart across the enclosure from one log to another. They had even better luck with the tuataras, spotting one straight off and seeing another two before they decided that the living dinosaurs weren't going to move anytime quickly and they headed back out into the daylight again.

Quickly they walked through the bird cages, neither very interested in the array of birds that greeted them, neither were they very interested in the reptiles, stopping only for a few minutes before they headed into the African part of the zoo, firstly stopping at the zebra enclosure where the striped animals were trotting around in the cool breeze. They visited the lions, tigers, giraffes – who were eating from a tree right next to the observation deck, so close that Troy and Gabriella were only inches from the huge animals -, the baboons, the wallabies and kangaroos that Troy were convinced were all kangaroos until Gabriella pointed out a sign that told of the differences in the animals.

After a long walk the pair ended up at the chimpanzee enclosure, just a few minutes before the talk about the animals was meant to start. There they met Joseph and Maria, and the pair offered to take Charlie for the rest of the zoo trip, since there wasn't much to see after the chimpanzees.

Once the three were sitting down by the chimp enclosure, Charlie grew restless and so Gabriella let her out of her pushchair so she could stretch her small legs.

Immediately, Charlie wandered to the four people sitting on the seats next to Troy and Gabriella, plopping herself down between the two couples and smiling widely at them.

"Charlie!" Gabriella laughed, jumping up and quickly scooping up the toddler from her seat. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay," one of the girls laughed. "She's so cute!"

"Thanks," Gabriella grinned, letting Charlie get back down and giving her a gentle push back towards Troy. "Sorry if she annoyed you."

"She's okay," the other girl commented as Charlie wandered back over to them, smiling at the four new faces. "Are you guys here on holiday?"

"Yeah, joint family vacation," Troy grinned, having slid over the seats to be closer to where Gabriella was now sitting, keeping an eye on Charlie who seemed intent on sitting with the four New Zealand teenagers. "I'm Troy, this is Gabriella and her little sister, Charlie."

"I'm Stace," grinned the curly haired girl, her blue eyes darting over to the boy with the shorter brown hair and the only brown eyes in the group. "And this is Aidan."

"I'm also Stace," the shorter of the two girls chimed in from her spot on her boyfriend's lap. "And this is Zac."

The long haired boy nodded a hello, smiling at the newcomers before he gestured to the seats behind where they sat.

"Take a seat," Zac commented. "Charlie seems to have gotten herself comfortable here."

Gabriella and Troy sat where the boy had indicated, and the six teenagers quickly fell into an easy conversation about where Troy and Gabriella had already been on their trip, and where they were heading to next.

"It'll be really cold down south," the curly haired Stace commented.

"Yeah you'll get snowed in somewhere I bet," Aidan added and the others all nodded at his comment. "And to think, you gave up your summer to have our crappy winter."

Troy laughed, dropping an arm around Gabriella's shoulder as he replied "I'd give up every summer if I ended up with a hot girlfriend on my arm."

The two Stace's awwed as their boyfriend's laughed and Gabriella elbowed Troy in the side jokingly, their conversation being cut as the zookeeper started the talk.

After the short talk about the thirteen chimpanzees that lived in the zoo, the new friends all stood up, Gabriella strapping a reluctant Charlie back into her pushchair.

"Where are you heading to next?" Zac asked Troy and Gabriella, and Gabriella looked down at her map.

"Cheetahs, we're almost finished," Gabriella answered, pointing forward to the cheetah enclosure.

"That's where we're heading too," the shortest girl grinned and the six teenagers talked amongst themselves as they visited the last few enclosures that the zoo had to offer, with Charlie falling asleep after only a few minutes of leaving the chimpanzee enclosure.

When they reached the food area of the zoo, at the end of the enclosures, Gabriella saw the rest of their families already there, eating corndogs and fries.

"We're going to grab hotdogs and chips," Aidan announced to the girls, gesturing between he and Zac. "Hungry?"

"Yeah you want a corndog, babe?" Troy asked and the four New Zealander's laughed at his American term.

"We call them hotdogs here," the shorter Stace explained and Gabriella and Troy nodded in understanding of why the other teens had laughed. "And chips for the fries."

"You'd never guess we all spoke English," Gabriella laughed as Troy and the other two boys headed towards the growing line where the food was being sold.

"It's crazy, huh?" The other girls laughed, and Gabriella gestured towards her parents.

"I'm just going to take Charlie back to my parents, do you want to eat lunch together?"

For the next half hour, Troy and Gabriella formed friendships with the other four, and they left with swapping facebook identities and emails, vowing to keep in contact.

"Maybe this trip isn't turning out so badly," Troy smiled at Gabriella as they walked out of the zoo at the end of the day.

"This are certainly looking up," Gabriella agreed. "I wonder what the South Island is going to be like."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: So I was going to make this a super long chapter, but I'm feeling guilty at how long it's taken to get this out, and now I'm sick (managed to get a chest, ear and throat infection all at the same time, woo me) and my typing is incredibly poor (therefore apologies for any mistakes in this, blame the meds) so consider this a teaser for the next chapter :)**

**As usual, thanks for all your support with this story!  
**

The day after the Zoo trip, Troy and Gabriella were being left to their own devices, this time in the heart of the city, and over breakfast Gabriella was excitedly informing Troy about what she wanted to do that day.

"Sounds like you have a lot planned," Maria teased her daughter as she listened to her rambling on to an amused looking Troy.

"I think we're going to need two days to do it all," Troy grinned squeezing Gabriella's hand to show her that he was just having fun with her.

"Well that's the thing," Lucille interrupted. "We were talking last night and Gabriella, your Dad mentioned this place we thought we'd stay for the last few nights of our time here."

"Besides the zoo, there wasn't really anywhere that the boys wanted to go," Joseph added in. "We talked to them and gave them the choice of activities in town, or bush walks and things at this local national park."

"So we don't get to go back into town?" Gabriella asked sadly, thoughts of strolling through the botanical gardens and the Museum of New Zealand with Troy filling her mind.

Gabriella and Troy looked at each other with a confused expression on their faces as they noticed their parents all communicating with eyebrow raises and smirks on their faces.

"What's going on?" Troy asked nervously, sensing that this was either going to be bad, or something that would seem like a test.

"Well we all decided that you two are both 17, and if we were back home, no doubt you would be spending a lot more time alone together than you do here," Maria started.

"And you know we're doing our best to trust you and your…. developing relationship," Joseph added in, holding his gaze on Troy as if daring the teenager to break his trust.

"So we've decided the two of you - if you want – can stay at a hostel in town tonight, so you're free to explore Wellington today, and tomorrow, and we'll come back and pick you up from here tomorrow night and take you to Rimutaka Park with the rest of us for the last night here," Jack informed the teenagers who both broke out into huge grins.

"Now this hostel has both dorm rooms and twin rooms, so the two of you can book into either of these rooms when you get into town today, the hostel is right by the train station, the lady we talked to said you can't miss it."

"We're letting the two of you decide what kind of room you want to stay in."

"And we don't particularly want to know your choice," Joseph informed them, earning himself a glare from the other three parents.

"Don't make us regret this decision, okay?" Lucille said to Troy with a smile and Troy nodded his head hurriedly.

"I promise, Mom," Troy agreed, dropping Gabriella's hand and standing up to kiss his Mom on the cheek before reaching over to give Maria a quick, one-armed hug.

"Well you two better go and pack," Jack told the pair. "There's a bus that will take you to the train station leaving in a half hour."

The pair got up and went to their separate motorhomes, each grabbing a backpack to take with them and filling it with some clothes for the next day and something to sleep in that night.

Troy's packing took less than a few minutes, and he lay down on his bed and grabbed his phone, sending Gabriella a quick txt message.

_Can't believe I get to spend tonight with you._

Gabriella was just having a small freak out about her only pyjamas being completely boring and practical when her phone beeped on her bed and she snatched it up, knowing it would be Troy.

_I take it we're not going to go with the bedding option our parents are hoping we'll take?_

Hitting send, Gabriella went back to looking through her suitcase, deciding to grab some clothes for the next day before she came back to her pyjama situation. Just as she was stuffing a pair of jeans and a dark green hoody into her backpack her phone beeped again and she read the txt with a smile on her face.

_It's up to you. Whatever you feel comfortable with, baby._

Gabriella couldn't believe how sweet Troy was, she knew that if she said she wanted to dorm share with other people, he would agree to it, but she also knew that she wanted nothing more than to spend some time with Troy, both hanging out with him exploring the town, and alone together, exploring their relationship.

_Bedroom for two, in that case._

Grabbing a pair of black satin pyjama pants and a grey, long-sleeved thermal top to wear to bed that night and stuffing them in her backpack, Gabriella flopped back down on her bed to read the message that Troy had just sent back and she bit her bottom lip as she read beyond the five simple words on her screen.

_I can't wait for it._

Just as Gabriella was about to reply, another txt message came through and so she read it, seeing it was from Troy, informing her that he was ready and would meet her outside. Determined not to miss a second of time she could be with her boyfriend, Gabriella quickly sat up, shoving her phone into the pocket of her jeans, and grabbing a black puffer jacket before she slung her backpack over her left shoulder and climbed down the ladder to the rest of the motorhome.

Troy couldn't help the smile that crossed his face when Gabriella came out grinning, he took her in her appearance, noting she was wearing her apparently usual uniform of jeans and a hoody, and he was willing to bet that underneath she'd be wearing a long sleeved t-shirt layered with a regular t-shirt. It occurred to Troy that he'd never been attracted to a girl that didn't seem to try to look good, she just effortlessly was the most beautiful thing he'd laid eyes on, simply by being herself, and he loved that about her.

"All ready to go, kids?" Jack asked, breaking the intense stares that Troy and Gabriella were giving each other, having forgotten about the other people standing with them.

"Umm yeah," Troy mumbled, tearing his eyes away from Gabriella and turning to his Dad. "Well I am."

"I'm ready too," Gabriella informed Troy, walking over to first her Mom who she hugged and then her Dad, giving him a kiss on his cheek and smiling reassuringly at him. "See you guys at the train station tomorrow?"

"We'll be there, sweetheart, 4 o'clock okay?" Lucille informed her as Troy gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "Have fun exploring Wellington, don't forget to take pictures for us."

"Oh!" Gabriella cried out, turning to Troy, an apologetic look on her face. "My camera is inside, I'll just go and grab it okay?"

Troy grinned at Gabriella as he nodded his head. "Go ahead, baby."

The pet-name didn't go unnoticed by anyone, Troy and Gabriella both immediately blushed, avoiding their parents' gazes. Maria and Lucille looked at each other with huge smiles on their faces and Jack chuckled while Joseph looked unhappy.

Within minutes, Gabriella emerged and the four parents watched as their two children walked away from them, their fingers interwoven together, tightly, and each of the parents sighed to themselves, their babies were really grown up now.

As they walked away from their parents who were experiencing a moment of sadness, Gabriella started talking excitedly to Troy.

"Can we go to Te Papa today?" She asked Troy, not even giving him the time to answer before ths carried on with more questions. "What about the botanical gardens and the cable car? Ooh and a walk along the waterfront to that beach what's it called? Oh yeah, Oriental Parade!"

"What did you do, Brie? Memorize the whole "Sightseers Guide to Wellington" or something?" Troy teased as they approached the road outside of the camping ground and crossed over to the green bus shelter which was situated directly across the road.

"Don't tease me or we'll be sleeping the way our parents hope we are," Gabriella scolded and Troy groaned at her, sitting down on the bench and tugging Gabriella to sit in his lap.

"Don't mention us… sleeping together and our parents in the same sentence, baby," he whined, burying his face in Gabriella's neck. "Mmm you smell nice."

Gabriella was going to reply but she lost her train of thought as she felt Troy's soft, warm lips pressing lightly on the exposed skin of her neck, moving up to her jaw where he started sucking lightly.

"Troy," Gabriella whimpered, forgetting they were sitting at a bus shelter on a busy road.

She pushed herself back into his chest to get closer to his teasing lips which were now leaving quick, brushing kisses, scattered across her neck.

"You want me to stop?" Troy whispered huskily in her ear, tightening his grip on her waist as he sucked her earlobe into his mouth.

"Umm, no," Gabriella moaned softly. "But you need to, the um, bus."

Troy glanced upwards, seeing a purple bus approaching them, slowing down to stop so they could board. Huffing, Troy moved his mouth away from Gabriella, loosing his grip and letting her stand before he followed, trying not to be obvious as he rearranged the front of his pants where Gabriella had been squirming just seconds before.

"Two tickets to Petone station," Troy asked the driver, mispronouncing the place name as 'pee-tone'.

"Petone," Gabriella corrected him, making the bus driver smile at the way she said the correct pronunciation of "pet-oh-knee" in her American accent.

"That's $2.50 thanks," the bus driver said and Troy opened his wallet, looking through the notes he had in there for the $5 bill he knew he had.

"What colour is the $5?" Troy asked Gabriella quietly and Gabriella thought for a second.

"Orange?" She asked uncertainly and the bus driver nodded, still smiling at the two and how utterly lost they seemed.

"Thanks," the bus driver said as he took the note and gave Troy his change and the two tickets so they could go and sit down.

Troy was glad there weren't many people on the bus, to witness his complete fail of the place name and locating the right money for the trip. They easily found two seats near the front of the bus and settled in for the five minute trip to the train station, discussing quietly as they drove along the Petone Esplanade, trying to work out if what they could see across the harbour was Wellington City and what the random little island was in the middle of nowhere.

"Maybe that's where they put all the convicts or something," Troy laughed and Gabriella shook her head.

"I'm sure there'll be something along the waterfront that will tell us, if that over there is Wellington City," Gabriella replied. "So where are we going to go first?"

As the bus pulled into the train station, Troy and Gabriella had decided on their itinerary for the next two days, with that day planned to walk along the waterfront til they got to the City and Sea Museum, which a friendly lady on the bus had suggested they visit if they wanted to learn more about Wellington. After that they would continue the walk along the waterfront til they got to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa and after they had been there, they would walk up to Oriental Parade, a man-made beach that was a short walk from Te Papa. If they weren't too tired after all of that, they would walk back through the shopping district of Wellington City, Cuba and Manners Mall where they would find an early dinner and then walk back down to near the train station where their hostel for the night was.

It was a packed day, but there was so much Gabriella was eager to see, and Troy too was eager to see as much of the city as there was to see. The next day would be more relaxed, with a trip on the cable car to the Botanical Gardens, a walk around the University that was situated nearby before a visit to the New Zealand Parliament Building, the Beehive where Gabriella had promised Taylor she would take pictures.

Both Troy and Gabriella were glad of the weather that day, since they had lots of walking planned, it wasn't too cold, nor too windy as the waited for the train, and a little bit of sun tried to peek through the clouds at them. After a few minutes wait, the train arrived and the pair climbed aboard, easily finding a seat and settling down.

Gabriella clutched Troy's hand nervously as the train sped along next to the sea, the waves that were pounding the rocks sent splashes of water onto the window they were seated next to.

"You really aren't a traveller, are you?" Troy teased, remembering how Gabriella had clutched his hand in the same way when they were landing in New Zealand.

"Do you see how close we are to the water?" Gabriella mumbled, and Troy decided to needed to distract her a bit before she drew blood from his hand.

Using his free hand, Troy cupped the side of Gabriella's face, turning her to look at him, her dark eyes were clouded with fright and Troy smiled at her, trying to calm her down.

"Hey baby," he cooed, his thumb brushing along her tightened jaw. "Don't think about it, okay?"

Gabriella gave a small nod, her grip on Troy's hand loosening slightly as she forgot about the waves crashing next to them and got lost in the playful blue of Troy's eyes.

"Better?" Troy whispered, his thumb still brushing lightly over Gabriella's jaw, the sparks of passion between the igniting with just the simple touch and Gabriella struggled to remember to nod, feeling herself drawn to Troy's lips which were curled up in a half smirk.

Seeing Gabriella leaning in for a kiss, Troy bent his head down to meet her lips, his hand sliding along her face and into her hair, holding her face to his in an unnecessary move as their lips pressed together in a few short, sweet kisses.

"So beautiful," Troy murmured as they broke apart, their foreheads still touching.

Gabriella blushed at his comment, said like he was telling her a simple fact such as the sky was blue, or spring came before summer.

"Don't roll your eyes," Troy lightly scolded, brushing their lips together once more. "I'm just so amazed that someone can go to so little effort in their appearance and still be the most beautiful, sexy thing I have ever seen."

Instinctively, Gabriella wanted to roll her eyes again, and had it been anyone but the boy she was falling hard for, she would've followed that instinct and argued the compliment. But there was just something about the way Troy's face looked so sincere when he spoke the words, the way his eyes drilled into hers and his words flowed so smoothly as if they were second nature for him to think.

So instead, Gabriella obliged to her other instinctive feelings and threw her arms around her boyfriend's neck and kissed him with all the passion and pure love that she could muster, knowing that tonight, she was going to give her all to Troy.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: So this is only the first half of Day 1 in Wellington, through no fault of my own I'm the unwilling owner of 7 broken bones, so I just finished up this chapter so I can give you all an update since I'm not sure how long it will take me to get the next one out, though it is all planned out so hopefully it won't be too long. **

**I want to dedicate this chapter to my Grandad on what would be his birthday, this chapter makes reference to an important part of New Zealand's history, the sinking of the Wahine, and my Grandad risked his life to help the passengers get to shore safely, he is one of the selfless volunteers that can be thanked for saving hundreds of lives. Happy birthday Grandad, I love and miss you every day 3  
**

It didn't take long for the train to arrive in Wellington, and Troy and Gabriella, having no idea where they were going, just followed the crowds of people through the station and outside where there was a small drop off/pick up area and taxi stand.

"Where are we meant to be going?" Troy asked, spinning slowly in a circle, not having the slightest clue where he was.

"Uhhh," Gabriella answered, looking around at what they could see from where they were standing. "Is the hostel called Wellington Downtown Backpackers?"

"Sounds familiar," Troy agreed, trying to see where Gabriella had seen the name and he quickly spotted a tall building directly across the road from where they were standing.

"Should we go and book a room?" Gabriella pondered aloud. "They might have maps or something there."

Troy nodded, glad he was with Gabriella who was a logical thinker otherwise he may have just walked around aimlessly til he found something he was looking for. Grabbing his girlfriend's hand, Troy shivered as the wind started to pick up, though it wasn't too cold for people who were used to the biting southerly wind, it was cold to both Troy and Gabriella, and they picked up their pace, reaching the backpackers in less than a minute.

Once inside, Gabriella gently pushed Troy towards the front desk, and it surprised Troy that Gabriella was so shy, for around him, she had no problems talking his ear off. This only sought to remind Troy that he only knew one side of Gabriella, but he reminded himself that when they got home, they'd be at the same school and he would only be getting to know Gabriella better and better.

The backpackers had plenty of rooms left for the night but Troy and Gabriella still booked one, figuring it meant they didn't have to hurry back later on in the day just to make sure they got a room. They also got a map, and the friendly lady at the front desk highlighted the best route for them to take to get to all their planned activities that day.

"New Zealanders are really friendly," Troy commented to Gabriella as they stood, waiting at the traffic lights to cross the road over to the waterfront, but just as he spoke, a businessman on a cell phone and carrying a briefcase, pushed between them, breaking their grasp on each other's hands and making the pair burst out laughing.

"Most of them?" Gabriella asked, making to grab Troy's hand in her own but instead he wrapped an arm around her waist, tugging her into his side and taking her hand in his opposite hand.

After a few minutes, the lights all changed to red and Troy, Gabriella and the numerous Wellingtonians crossed the road, though the pair noticed that everyone else seemed to walk just a few seconds before the light and beeping indicating they could cross, went off.

On the other side of the road they headed the short distance to the waterfront, and Gabriella immediately stepped up onto the edge that was a few feet above the water.

"Brie, be careful," Troy warned, looking past Gabriella at the choppy waters below.

Gabriella merely grinned at Troy, walking one foot in front of the other along the wooden edge. "Do you think we'll see dolphins?"

Troy shook his head at his girlfriend. "If you slip you'll probably freeze to death in that water, if you don't kill yourself on the rocks, and you're just thinking about seeing dolphins?"

Gabriella giggled, shrugging as she grabbed onto Troy's hand. "If I fall, I'm taking you with me."

Troy wrapped his arm back around her waist, lifting her up and making her squeal as he set her down on the concrete on the right side of the edging.

"You can see just as well from here and you won't end up giving me a heart attack, okay?"

Gabriella couldn't stop the grin at Troy's protectiveness and the pair continued in relative silence along the windy waterfront until they reached the Museum of Wellington City and Sea, their first stop for the day.

They hurried inside, eager to get out of the biting southerly wind, and when they got inside Troy was instantly attracted to a big picture on the wall of a board sinking, and Gabriella followed him over, starting to read the information about the Wahine Disaster while Troy merely looked at the pictures.

"On the morning of April 10th, 1968, Cyclone Giselle hit at the same time as another storm which had driven up the West Coast of the South Island from Antarctica. The two storms met over the capital city, creating a single storm just as the inter-island ferry Wahine was crossing Cook Strait," Gabriella read from the board, and Troy pointed at a picture of the boat laying on it's side in the water.

"This must be just before it sunk," he pointed out needlessly and Gabriella nodded before continuing reading out loud about the horrible storm that had lashed the capital city, throwing the ferry against the rocks at Pencarrow Head.

"Most of the passengers didn't even realise they had struck rocks because they could tell little difference between that impact and the battering the ship was receiving," Gabriella read out and Troy couldn't help but interrupt.

"Shit, that must've been some storm," he commented. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

Gabriella giggled lightly at his apology, reaching up to peck his lips gently before the pair turned their attention back to the display.

"Wow the weather was so bad that no help could be given from the harbour or the shore," Troy commented and Gabriella pointed to a bit further down.

"Only four lifeboats could be launched, for 610 passengers and 123 crew, it's amazing only 53 people died," Gabriella gasped, feeling great sadness even though these were people she didn't and would never know.

"These must be like volunteers that helped out," Troy pointed to a picture of people being helped out of the lifeboat and Gabriella nodded, looking at the black and white photo of chaos.

"Those poor people," Gabriella said softly, and Troy nodded, hugging her tighter. "Do you want to watch the film they have of it?" Gabriella asked, having read down the bottom of the information about what else was available at the museum to do with the Wahine disaster.

After they had watched the short film, leaving both of them with heavy hearts, and slightly worried about crossing the cook strait in a few days, the pair continued around the rest of the small museum, finding an exhibit about the island they had seen on the train.

"Somes Island," read out Troy, not even attempting the Maori name for the island, "Matiu".

"Oh wow, it was used as a quarantine purposes in 1872," Gabriella read out. "For smallpox when the boats arrived from England, and about 40 people are buried on the island."

"And it was used again in 1918 during the influenza epidemic," Troy pointed out and Gabriella gasped.

"1918? That was like 90 years ago, and they put people on a little island pretty much to die? Oh my God, Troy look at this."

Gabriella pointed to a list of the people who were known to have died and been buried on the island, many of them babies and young children.

"Fuck, 12 days old," Troy pointed out a baby who had died in 1874, on the same day as 3 other children aged 17 months, 18 months and 3 years old. "That's horrible, how can a 12 day old baby die of smallpox?"

"Well she came in on a ship so it was probably complications from birth or something," Gabriella explained. "Thought a 12 day old baby would get really sick, really fast so I'm not really sure. Her death is listed as unknown."

After reading through the list of people buried on the island, Troy and Gabriella read the information about how the island has been used since World War 1 and 2 when it was used as a camp for enemy internees who were considered a security threat.

"So this is kinda like a safe haven for animals now?" Troy asked as they read about how the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand had managed to rid the island of rats, mice, stoats and other harmful animals so that the island could be used for endangered animals and plants to be safe on.

"I guess it is," Gabriella replied. "The smaller island next to it is the same, but people are allowed on Somes island and not the other one."

"A quarantine island, a major part of the world wars and now a nature reserve, lots of faces for such a small, seemingly insignificant island," Troy grinned, pointing to a picture of a little blue penguin that made Gabriella squeal with happiness.

Troy had never had so much fun learning, and this was just the beginning of his 2 day journey that was organised by Gabriella Montez, honour student.

* * *

After they were finished at the Museum of Wellington City and Sea, they headed a little further down the waterfront to Te Papa – the Museum of New Zealand. Inside, they instantly started exploring, going to see the colossal squid exhibit first, both were amazed at it's size, and while Troy was happy just to look at the squid, Gabriella set upon reading the information available at the exhibit, reading out random facts and information to Troy who was surprised to find himself reading the information himself at the next exhibit they went to.

The next exhibit was the rest of the Mountains to Sea exhibit, where there were over 2500 native plants and animals, ranging from minuscule insects to the gigantic skeleton of a 21-metre pygmy blue whale. The natural settings of the exhibit were strikingly represented, animated by sound and lighting effects. The pair walked among dramatically designed tall tree ferns, gigantic beech, kauri, and rata trees. They could hear forest animals, flowing water, the sea and there was the impression of dappled sunlight coming through a leafy canopy. The underwater scenes suggested mystery and depth and when they went up the ramp in the centre of the exhibition they got a treetop perspective on the exhibition.

After they spent a great deal of time at the Mountains to Sea exhibit, they crossed the room to the Awesome Forces exhibit, where they were shown how plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and erosion have shaped New Zealand's dynamic landscape. There were a number of interactive exhibits, including the museums most popular exhibit, which Troy and Gabriella entered first. They stood alone in the small area, in front of them was set up like an every day living room, with a tv, radio, some arm chairs, a lamp, a light hanging from the ceiling and numerous other knickknacks spread around. Troy and Gabriella were watching the unknown show on the tv when suddenly the floor underneath them jolted, back and forward harshly, the lights in the small house flickering and the loud sounds of crashing filled their ears.

Gabriella screamed, practically leaping into Troy's arms, hitting him hard in the shoulder with her cast as he held her tightly, each of them seriously fearing for their life as the shaking stopped and the radio turned itself on, reporting a large earthquake had just struck Wellington City and Gabriella and Troy looked at each other, their eyes wide as they stopped listening to the radio broadcast and hurried out of the exhibit. They couldn't believe their eyes when they went back out into the main exhibit area and everyone was standing around as normal, reading the information on the walls and exploring the exhibits as if a large earthquake hadn't just struck right where they were standing.

As they walked around gaping at the carefreeness of everyone else in the room, they ended back up at the entrance to the exhibit they had just been in when the earthquake struck, and Gabriella noticed the sign informing them that the exhibit simulated an earthquake, and went off every five minutes during opening hours.

"Troy," she giggled, feeling her racing heart slow down as she pointed the sign out to Troy who burst into laughter as well, causing a few people nearby to look at them with confused looks. "It was just an exhibit."

"Scariest fucking exhibit ever," Troy proclaimed, placing a kiss on Gabriella's smiling lips. "Though I did like the way you threw yourself at me, deciding to take what you wanted in your last few seconds of life, eh?"

Gabriella blushed, pushing Troy gently in the chest, away from her. "And you think you're going to get lucky tonight talking like that? I think you're gunna be sleeping on the floor."

Shaking his head Troy grabbed Gabriella around the waist, wrapping his arms tightly around her small frame and tugging her back to his chest as he bent down to talk quietly in her ear, his voice husky as his breath made her shiver.

"Admit it Montez, you want me. Bad."

And though Gabriella knew he was joking, she couldn't deny it, not one bit.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I know I'm a terrible author, but I really just lost the mojo for this story, even more so after December, BUT I had some great help, from a great author, and I got back on track and am enjoying writing this story again! I'm not gunna make any promises about updating fast, because my life is chaos right now, and will continue to be chaos for quite some time yet, but I haven't given this story up.**

**Now for the thanks to my great helper, Dani (Pandora147) for her ideas, suggestions, and general help, encouraging me to take this story where I had planned to take it originally! There's a little something in this chapter for you, Dani (it's a teeny bit obvious), thank you so much for your help!**

Three hours later and Troy and Gabriella were done with the museum and were strolling hand and hand along the small stretch of golden sand that was Oriental Bay.

"I wonder how much sand they had to use to make this," Gabriella pondered, loving the pure colour of the sand.

"Beats me," Troy shrugged. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving," Gabriella replied. "Where do you want to eat?"

"I dunno," Troy shrugged. "I don't really want to wait for food though, I'm too hungry for that."

"We could walk back to the backpackers and stop somewhere along the way? I'm sure there's a McDonalds or a Subway somewhere around here," Gabriella suggested, shivering as the cold wind picked up.

The pair started to walk back along the beach, the wind getting stronger and stronger with every passing minute.

"Talk about four seasons in one day," Gabriella commented. "It had turned into a really nice, sunny day when we were in the museum, now it looks like it's going to rain!"

"We better hurry," Troy replied, tightening his grip on Gabriella's hand and tugging her into a faster walk.

The pair carried on their journey back to the hostel, fastening their steps as a few drops of rain started to fall, heading onto a full on run as the drops fell faster and more frequently until it was pouring with heavy rain.

Dripping wet, Troy and Gabriella finally reached the hostel, shaking his hair out of his eyes, Troy reached into his pocket for the room card, grinning at Gabriella as he produced it, but his grin dropped as Gabriella shivered.

"Come on baby," Troy slipped his hand back into Gabriella's. "You need a hot shower before you get sick."

"You don't get sick from being in the rain," Gabriella argued but Troy rolled his eyes at her, knowing he still wanted her to be dry and warm as soon as possible.

Their bedroom was larger than they had expected, with a queen sized bed in the middle, and a couch to one side of the room, under a window that overlooked the city street below and their bags had been placed next to the couch. On the other wall was the door to their small ensuite bathroom, and that was where Troy took Gabriella, turning on the hot water in the small glass shower before he got nervous, muttering to Gabriella that he would bring her bag into her so that she could shower and get warmed up, quickly.

Gabriella couldn't help but giggle at Troy's reaction to them being in a bathroom together when she was about to shower, because he was someone that was so confident most of the time, it was amusing to Gabriella when her boyfriend got all shy and nervous.

Troy all but threw Gabriella bag into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him quickly, leaving her to get out of her cold, wet clothes and climb under the hot spray of the shower.

This gave Troy a chance to give himself a mental pep talk as he paced the large, bare room, reminding himself that he wasn't pressuring Gabriella into anything she didn't want tonight, because she was a willing participant and he knew she would tell him if she didn't like something that was happening.

Knowing that she didn't have long to shower, Gabriella quickly washed her hair, lathering it up and then rinsing the bubbly shampoo out under the blissfully hot stream, before she quickly washed her body. When she stepped out of the shower, the cool air hit her body and made her grab for the towel, wrapping it around herself as she remembered that Troy was still in his wet clothes, and she could just get changed in the bedroom while he was having his shower.

Troy could have sworn his heart stopped beating when Gabriella stepped in front of him, wearing only a small, white towel around her semi-wet body, her wet curls hanging over her shoulders and falling into her face.

"I thought you might be wanting the shower quickly," Gabriella blushed as Troy stared at her. She hadn't thought about the fact that she would be standing in front of him as good as naked, she had just been concerned that he was in cold, wet clothes.

"Um," Troy cleared his throat as he felt himself harden in his wet jeans. "Thanks."

His gaze was locked on the drops of water that were disappearing under Gabriella's towel, and Troy desperately wanted to tear away the small piece of fabric to watch the droplets carry on down the smooth skin.

Troy took a step forward, towards the bathroom, but this only led to him standing directly in front of Gabriella, who bit her bottom lip at the close proximity of her boyfriend. Smiling nervously, Troy took a step to his left, at the exact same second Gabriella took a step to her right, landing them one step across the room, still standing directly in front of each other.

"I'm just gunna…" Troy trailed off, taking a quick step around Gabriella, stalking towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind him and resting against it heavily, mentally scolding himself for how close he had come to just attacking Gabriella instead of taking it slowly.

On the other side of the closed door, Gabriella slowly sat down on the edge of the hostel bed, her towel still clenched tightly around her body as she caught her breath. It was inevitable that her and Troy were going to have sex tonight, and as excited as Gabriella was for it, she was also equally as nervous, and wanted to take things slow, not just be ravished in the middle of the room.

Feeling more calm, Gabriella stood up, looking around the room for her bag so that she could get dressed before Troy got out of the bathroom, to avoid anymore awkward moments between them.

"Oh shit," Gabriella muttered, realising in her hurry to let Troy use the bathroom, she had left her bag in there, with all her clothes in it. She could still hear the water running in the shower, so she knew she would have to wait for Troy to be done with his shower before he could pass her out her bag.

Suddenly Gabriella felt how cold the room was, and she was very aware of the fact that there was an uncovered window in the room, which, although it was several floors up, was facing out into the street. Gabriella could hear the sounds of the street below, and so, clutching her towel tightly around her body, she darted across the room, reaching out to the curtain as soon as it was in her reach and pulling it across the room, plunging it into darkness.

A noise behind her startled Gabriella and she spun around quickly, being met by a confused looking Troy who's head was poking around the slightly open bathroom door.

"I heard you moving really quickly across the room, I was just making sure you were okay," Troy explained. "But why is the room dark? And why are you still…."

Troy trailed off, his face turning a light pink colour as he stopped himself from drawing attention to Gabriella's naked state, seeing that he was in the same state behind the door, only a small white towel wrapped around his waist.

"I realised my bag was in the bathroom," Gabriella explained nervously, biting down on her bottom lip. "And then I realised I was you know, not dressed, and the curtain was open, and yeah…"

The couple stood watching one another, Gabriella biting on her bottom lip as Troy reached up to run his hand through his wet hair, both lost in their own thoughts for a second, before Gabriella remembered about her bag.

"Um Troy? My bag?" She asked quickly, and Troy chuckled.

"Yeah and I left my bag in this room, should we just switch rooms?" Troy asked, deciding that would be easier than them passing each other their backpacks.

Gabriella nodded at the suggestion, starting to walk towards the bathroom as Troy stepped back and opened the bathroom door. Swallowing hard, Gabriella walked past Troy into the bathroom, feeling the heat radiating off his wet body as she passed him.

"Brie?" Troy asked and Gabriella turned around to face him. "I'm uh, I'm glad we get to do this. I mean, spend some time together."

Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Gabriella couldn't help but smile at Troy's stammering, a reminder that her boyfriend was just as nervous about the night as she was.

"Me too, Troy," Gabriella replied. "I'm very glad."

Unable to stop himself, Troy leant down for a small kiss, and Gabriella's eyes fluttered closed her his lips brushed against her own for a brief few seconds.

As they broke apart, the awkwardness set back in, and Troy quickly left the bathroom. Each of them quickly got dressed, and Gabriella stayed in the bathroom until Troy knocked on the bathroom door.

"It's um. It's safe to come out now," Troy called through to Gabriella, smiling when the door immediately opened and his girlfriend appeared. "Hey you."

"Hey yourself," Gabriella grinned, the pair standing in the bathroom doorway, smiles stretching from ear to ear as they watched one another, the awkwardness was gone for the time being, for now they were just two teenagers, in a new and exciting city, halfway across the world from their home, without parents.

As if sensing the teenagers' thoughts, Troy's phone rung loudly throughout the silent room, and Troy rolled his eyes, putting his hands on Gabriella's hips and shifting her gently to the side so he could reach his wet jeans laying on the bathroom floor, where he had left his phone.

"Hi Mom," Troy answered, turning back to Gabriella and pointing to the bed in the other room, following her as she climbed onto the soft surface.

"Yeah we went exploring, but we got caught in the rain on the way back to the hostel," Troy answered his Mom as he lay down on the bed, letting Gabriella snuggle into his side.

Gabriella's wet hair tickled Troy's nose as she cuddled into him and made him let out a small chuckle.

"No Gabriella just tickled me," Troy explained to his Mom. "I was going to take her to get something for dinner, but I don't know if I will now."

Pulling herself back so she could look at Troy's face, Gabriella poked her tongue out at the same time as she poked him in the ribs, making Troy jump back and let out a startled yell.

"I will make sure she gets food, Mom, I was just kidding," Troy groaned, grabbing Gabriella's good hand in his own as she lunged at him again, with her. "Even if she is being really mean right now."

Again, Gabriella poked her tongue out at Troy, pulling her hand out of his grasp and rolling over to face away from him.

"Yeah she's right here, I'll pass the phone to her. Bye Mom, love you."

Troy sidled up behind Gabriella, pressing his front to her back as he passed the phone over to her, "Your Mom wants to talk to you."

As Gabriella talked to her Mom, Troy decided she needed a taste of her own medicine, for trying to distracting him when he was on the phone to his Mom.

Propping himself up on one hand, Troy slid the other hand across Gabriella's hip, feeling her body stiffen against him as she tried to focus on what her Mom was saying.

Chuckling to himself, Troy dropped his hand lower, so he could slip under the thin material of Gabriella's thermal t-shirt, brushing his hand across Gabriella's warm skin until it was resting on her lower stomach.

This caused Gabriella's breath to hitch as her body instinctively moved back to press harder against Troy's front. Troy guessed her Mom must have heard her breathing change because Gabriella was stammering out an excuse.

"I'm just cold, Mama," Gabriella lied, trying to push Troy's hand away. "We got wet on the way home and I haven't put a sweatshirt back on, that's all."

Troy refused to move his hand, instead he started to slowly creep it up Gabriella's stomach, feeling Gabriella's muscles moving under his hand on it's journey.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" Gabriella told her Mom, trying to quickly end the conversation, knowing if she stayed on the line any longer, Maria would end up asking Gabriella to tell her everything they had seen that day. "We are going to go and find something for dinner now."

After ending the conversation, Gabriella flipped herself over so she was facing Troy who was wearing a very smug smirk.

"That wasn't nice, Troy," Gabriella scolded, trying her hardest to look mad at her boyfriend, but failing dramatically.

"You didn't enjoy it?" Troy questioned, raising an eyebrow as Gabriella rolled her eyes at him.

"Shut up," Gabriella muttered, quickly closing the gap between their lips as Troy started to say another sarcastic comment.

Much preferring to kiss his girlfriend than sarcastically tease her, Troy kissed Gabriella back eagerly, and soon as the pair were heavily making out on the bed, the awkwardness that had left the room, made a reappearance.

The fact that they were alone, without parents, had gone from being an exciting feeling, to a nerve-wracking feeling for both of the teenagers who now lay side by side on the bed, their hair messy and their clothes rumpled, their chests heaving with their laboured breathing and their lips tingling from the make-out session.

Troy was the first to speak, breaking the silence that had come over them when Troy had rolled onto his back, pulling Gabriella with him so that she was straddling him, in a position that reminded them of what they were both planning, and hoping the night would be ending with.

"Um, are you hungry?" Troy asked quietly, sitting up to look at Gabriella who had flushed cheeks.

"I am," Gabriella confirmed, sitting up as well, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up. "It's still raining outside though."

Troy nodded, the sound of the rain hitting the room's window was loud in the otherwise quiet room. "Did you see anything that was close by that counts as food?"

"Just a McDonalds, right next door," Gabriella recalled seeing the popular fast-food restaurant as they crossed the road outside the railway station. "I guess that counts as food. And we won't get wet walking there."

"I can even order you something that resembles a three-course meal," Troy teased, the awkwardness once again lifting.

* * *

Half an hour later and Gabriella and Troy had finished the first two "courses" of their meal. They had started with some crispy chicken nuggets, with two kinds of dipping sauce, followed by a burger each and some fries, though Troy had eaten more than double the amount of fries from their shared pile.

"What do you want for dessert, Brie?" Troy asked, straining to see the menu from where he was sitting. "Do they have McFlurries here?"

"Ooh can I have an m&m McFlurry?" Gabriella asked excitedly. "No wait, an Oreo one. No, no, I want an m&m one, oh I just can't decide!"

Troy laughed at his girlfriend, sometimes he found her too adorable for words, and this just made him fall more and more in love with her everytime.

"What about I get us one of each, and we can share?" Troy suggested, and Gabriella nodded. "Do you want an apple pie too?"

"Ooh yes please," Gabriella replied as she stood up. "I'll be back in a minute."

Leaving Troy to order their dessert, Gabriella headed towards where the bathrooms were located, to quickly check her hair, a girly habit that Gabriella didn't usually possess.

There was only one other girl in the dimly lit bathroom and Gabriella situated herself at the spare sink next to the stranger, leaning forward and gasping as she saw what looked like a zit on her chin.

"Just the lighting," Gabriella muttered to herself, running her index finger across the spot just to make sure.

The stranger next to Gabriella let out a small laugh and Gabriella's eyes met hers in the mirror.

The girl had dark blonde hair that was wet from the rain that she too had obviously been caught in, and her grey-blue eyes were sparkly and kind looking, which matched the friendly, happy smile that danced on her face.

"Hi I'm Dani," the girl introduced herself, in an Australian accent. "Big night tonight?"

"I'm Gabriella, and yeah, very big night," Gabriella sighed nervously. "Are you from around here?"

"I'm from Sydney," Dani explained. "I'm here to see my favourite actor at the red carpet at his new movie premiere."

"Oh that's cool!" Gabriella exclaimed. "I've never done anything like that before, go to a whole other country for such a cool reason. I'm here on vacation with my family."

"So big night with a random kiwi guy?" Dani asked, confusion on her face. It was clear to her that Gabriella was nervous because of a guy, but she didn't seem like the kind of girl to have a vacation hook-up.

"No, my boyfriend, the son of my Dad's best friend who we are on vacation with," Gabriella explained. "We're in the city for the night without our families, and yeah, I think you can guess the reason I'm in here spilling my guts nervously to a stranger."

"Are you ready to take this step in your relationship?" Dani asked bluntly, and Gabriella immediately nodded her head, not needing to think about the question at all.

"I'm in love with him," Gabriella confessed. "I'm ready, so I don't know why I'm nervous and why we're being so awkward."

"It's a natural thing to be awkward about," Dani shrugged. "Especially if it's both your first time. You'll be wanting to get everything perfect, for the other person, but really, the perfection is in the act, no matter how awkward and fumbled. Plus, once you do it the first time and the awkwardness is gone, you get to do it over and over until it _is_ perfect!"

"You give good advice," Gabriella smiled. "How did you get so wise?"

* * *

After the talk with Dani, the random Australian in the bathroom, Gabriella went back to Troy, forgetting all about making sure her hair was perfect, just wanting to enjoy the time and opportunity they were having without their families around.

"Hi," Gabriella grinned as she sat back down in the booth the pair were sitting at for their meal, as she sat down she gave Troy a quick kiss, surprising him. "Sorry I took so long."

"That's okay, they took ages to make our dessert anyway, so the ice cream isn't melted," Troy smiled, drawing the two ice creams closer to them. "Now they didn't have Oreo McFlurries, but they do have malteser ones, and by the look of things, a malteser is like a whopper, do you still want to share?"

It didn't take long for the delicious ice creams and apple pies to be consumed, and Troy and Gabriella decided to head back to the hostel, since the weather was getting worse as the night wore on, so there was no where else they were planning on going.

As they left McDonalds, Gabriella saw Dani sitting at a table with a group of girls, smiling at each other, Gabriella waved, and Dani winked at her, pointing at Troy and giving Gabriella the thumbs up.

"What was that about? Who was the girl?" Troy asked, puzzled.

"Just a girl I talked to in the bathroom," Gabriella shrugged. "She had some really good advice for me."


End file.
